The local multiplier of income support paid in a complementary currency: Comparative evaluation in the city of Barcelona

Abstract

Complementary currencies have been promoted by ‘new-municipalism’ progressive movements to stimulate the local economy. Public administrations may engage in issuing complementary currencies or support them by realising expenditure and accepting them in payment. To assess and motivate the involvement of policymakers, measures to evaluate the multiplicative local impact of complementary currency programmes are required. The present research demonstrates a comparative procedure to analyse the local multiplier of income support payments provided by the City Council of Barcelona in euro and in a complementary currency, the REC. The results obtained show that the local impact of public income support can be enhanced when it is paid in a complementary currency and identify factors that mediate this effect.