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In economics, a local currency, in its common usage, is a currency not backed by a national government (and not necessarily legal tender), and intended to trade only in a small area. This amounts to a formalization of the barter system, a useful tool for raising awareness of the state of the local economy, especially among those who may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable with traditional bartering. These currencies are also referred to as community currency, and are a form of alternative currency or complementary currency. They encompass a wide range of forms, both physically and financially, and often are associated with a particular economic discourse.

Contents

[edit] History

Free banking provides the economic prototype of local currencies.[citation needed] In the modern era, the most recognizable local currencies were company scrip issued in certain industries to pay workers, and token coins issued by some businesses to encourage consumer loyalty. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the failures of national banks during crises often created acute demands for cash, which were met by businesses creating emergency currency. These scrips were usually issued with the intention of redemption in national currency at some later date.

A few such currencies, however, developed into monetary systems in their own right. The idea of using free banking to produce an alternative, community-level currency dates back at least as far as the German Credit Unions in the 1800s. The oldest local currencies known to be in continuous use are the WIR in Switzerland, and the Labor Banks in Japan.

Complementary currency is a hypernym to local currency, but the terms are often used as synonyms. The term "local currency" does not refer to national currency that happens to be used only in a local area.

Advocates of local currency, such as Jane Jacobs, argue that this enables an economically cool, yet depressed region to pull itself up by giving the people living there a medium of exchange that they can use to exchange services and locally-produced goods. In a broader sense, this is the original purpose of all money. Local currencies also tend to operate in relatively small geographic regions and encourage recycling and reducing the amount of carbon emissions from the transportation and manufacture of goods. As a result, they are part of the economic strategy of many green and sustainable-living groups such as the Green Party of England and Wales.

Local currencies can come into being also when there is economic turmoil involving the national currency. An example of this is the Argentine economic crisis of 2002 in which small denomination, interest-free provincial bond IOUs issued by local governments quickly took on some of the characteristics of local currencies successfully.

Opponents of this concept argue that local currency creates a barrier which can interfere with economies of scale and comparative advantage, and that in some cases they can serve, like traditional national currencies, as a means of tax evasion.

Use of local currencies to boost local economies is strongly advocated by the Netherlands-based Instrodi Institute.

[edit] Historical local currencies

The Wörgl experiment that was conducted from July 1932 to November 1933 is a classic example of the potential efficacy of local currencies. Wörgl, a small town in Austria with 4000 inhabitants, introduced a local scrip during the Great Depression. By 1932 unemployment in Wörgl had risen to 30%. The local government had amassed debts of 1.3 million Austrian schillings (AS) against cash reserves of 40,000 AS. Local construction and civic maintenance had come to a standstill. On the initiative of the town's mayor, Michael Unterguggenberger, the local government printed 32,000 in labor certificates which carried a negative 1% monthly interest rate and could be converted into schillings at 98% of face value. An equivalent amount in schillings was deposited in the local bank as cover for the certificates in case of mass redemption and earned interest for the government. The certificates circulated so rapidly that only 12,000 were ever actually put into circulation. According to reports by the mayor and economists of the day who studied the experiment, the scrip was readily accepted by local merchants and the local population. It utilized the scrip to carry out 100,000 AS in public works projects involving construction and repair of roads, bridges, tanks, drainage systems, factories, and buildings. The scrip was also accepted as legal tender for payment of local taxes. In the one year that the currency was in circulation, it circulated 13 times faster than the official shilling[citation needed] and served as a catalyst to the local economy. The heavy arrears in local tax collection declined dramatically. Local government revenue rose from 2,400 AS in 1931 to 20,400 in 1932. Unemployment was eliminated, while it remained very high throughout the rest of the country. No increase in prices was observed. Based on the dramatic success of the Wörgl experiment, several other communities introduced similar scrips.

In spite of the tangible benefits of the program, it met with stiff opposition from the regional socialist party and from the Austrian central bank, which opposed the local currency as an infringement on its powers over the currency. As a result the program was suspended, unemployment rose, and the local economy soon degenerated to the level of other communities in the country.[1][2]

Other well-documented historical examples include:

[edit] Characteristics

[edit] Theory

Local currency is based on a local form of monetarism and mercantilism: it establishes an internal trade barrier, as the local currency cannot be used externally, and allows the area to have a different (presumably lower) interest rate than the national currency's — in the Wörgl experiment, a negative interest rate, known as demurrage. Advocacy and criticism of local currencies is based partly on general attitudes towards monetarism and mercantilism, and partly on opinions of the desirability of having internal variations in currency and trade.

Advocates of local currency in effect argue that, in certain circumstances, an entire country is not an optimum currency area, and that various regions should have different currencies. Compare with the Eurozone in Europe.

[edit] Benefits

The Wörgl experiment dramatically illustrates some of the common characteristics and major benefits of local currencies.[4]

  1. Local currencies tend to circulate much more rapidly than national currencies. The same amount of currency in circulation is employed more times and results in far greater overall economic activity. It produces greater benefit per unit. The higher velocity of money is a result of the negative interest rate which encourages people to spend the money more quickly.
  2. Local currencies enable the community to more fully utilize its existing productive resources, especially unemployed labor, which has a catalytic effect on the rest of the local economy. They are based on the premise that the community is not fully utilizing its productive capacities, because of a lack of local purchasing power. The alternative currency is utilized to increase demand, resulting in a greater exploitation of productive resources. So long as the local economy is functioning at less than full capacity, the introduction of local currency need not be inflationary, even when it results in a significant increase in total money supply and total economic activity.
  3. Since local currencies are only accepted within the community, their usage encourages the purchase of locally-produced and locally-available goods and services. Thus, for any given level of economic activity, more of the benefit accrues to the local community and less drains out to other parts of the country or the world. For instance, construction work undertaken with local currencies employs local labor and utilizes as far as possible local materials. The enhanced local effect becomes an incentive for the local population to accept and utilize the scrips.
  4. Some forms of complementary currency can promote fuller utilization of resources over a much wider geographic area and help bridge the barriers imposed by distance. The Fureai kippu system in Japan issues credits in exchange for assistance to senior citizens. Family members living far from their parents can earn credits by offering assistance to the elderly in their local community. The credits can then be transferred to their parents and redeemed by them for local assistance. Airline frequent flyer miles are a form of complementary currency that promotes customer-loyalty in exchange for free travel. The airlines offer most of the coupons for seats on less heavily sold flights where some seats normally go empty, thus providing a benefit to customers at relatively low cost to the airline.
  5. While most of these currencies are restricted to a small geographic area or a country, through the Internet electronic forms of complementary currency can be used to stimulate transactions on a global basis. In China, Tencent's QQ coins are a virtual form of currency that has gained wide circulation. QQ coins can be purchased for Renminbi and used to purchase virtual products and services such as ringtones and on-line video game time. They are also obtainable through on-line exchange for goods and services at about twice the Renminbi price, by which additional 'money' is being directly created. Though virtual currencies are not 'local' in the tradition sense, they do cater to the specific needs of a particular community, a virtual community. Once in circulation, they add to the total effective purchasing power of the on-line population as in the case of local currencies. The Chinese government has begun to tax the coins as they are exchanged from virtual currency to actual hard currency.[5]

Society utilizes only a small portion of its resources and opportunities. Almost everyone has underutilized knowledge, skills and time that can be engaged productively. Most manufacturers and services have underutilized machinery or capacity. Complementary currencies are a creative means to enhance this untapped social potential.

[edit] Difficulties and criticisms

Local currencies and the Transition Towns movement in the UK have received criticism for a failure to address the needs of the wider population, especially lower socio-economic groups.[6] Such local currency initiatives have been more widely criticized in light of limited success stimulating new spending in local economies and as an unrealistic strategy to reduce carbon emissions.[7][8]. Successful Local Currencies such as the Wörgl experiment attract hostility from the Central Governments, as they reduce the bureaucracy's control over an important power centre.

[edit] Modern local currencies

There has been a tremendous surge in the use of local currencies over the past two decades. Today there are over 2,500 different local currency systems operating in countries throughout the world.

Since 2002 there has been an upsurge in local currency experiments particularly payment voucher-based systems that are exchangeable with the national currency. Such currencies aim to raise the resilience of local economies by encouraging re-localisation of buying and food production. The drive for this change has arisen from a range of community-based initiatives and social movements. The Transition Towns movement originating in the UK has utilised local currencies for re-localisation in the face of energy descent from peak oil and climate change. Other drives include movements against Clone town[9][10] and Big-box trends.

Previously, one of the most prominent systems was LETS, Local Exchange Trading System, a trading network supported by its own internal currency. Originally started in Vancouver, Canada, there are presently more than 30 LETS systems operating in Canada and over 400 in the United Kingdom. Australia, France, New Zealand, and Switzerland have similar systems. Time dollars, Ithaca Hours, and PEN exchange are among the most successful systems in the USA.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1] Wörgl Experiment with Depreciating Money
  2. ^ [2] Mckeever Institute of Economic policy Analysis
  3. ^ A Boon to Kut Chum archive
  4. ^ Lietaer, Bernard, The Future of Money, Century, 2002.
  5. ^ [3] Chinese government taxes QQ coins
  6. ^ Report from The Guardian on the Lewes Pound
  7. ^ The Undercover Economist on Local Currency
  8. ^ A critique of the Lewes Pound and of local currencies more generally
  9. ^ http://www.publicnet.co.uk/news/2009/04/15/measures-aim-to-tackle-problem-of-empty-shops/
  10. ^ http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/12345news_clonetownbritainresults.aspx
  11. ^ "No money? Then make your own". BBC News. 2009-09-17. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8245276.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-11. 
  12. ^ "No money? Then make your own". BBC News. 2009-09-17. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8245276.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-11. 

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