Community Currency Research Articles

“Your money ain't no good o'er there”: Food as real and social currency in the Pacific Theater of World War II

ABSTRACTThe millions of American servicemen who fought in the Pacific during World War II were paid better than any other. However, constant combat and time at sea gave these men relatively few places to spend their hard-earned money. Regardless, commerce existed in the theater in both real and social terms using currencies that were readily available and valued by men, even when there were few novel, material things to purchase with real money. Food was one of these forms of currency, and gave men a valuable tool that they could use to barter or adjust their social standing among their peers. Food-currency was used in two primary ways in combat or near-combat areas of the Pacific Theater. First, between many Pacific Islanders and military personnel, food was used as a cross-cultural bartering tool to quickly establish kinship between the military and the islanders. Secondly, amongst military personnel, food was used as a primary tender within a community currency system that acted outside of the military bureaucratic structure and across lines of rank, unit, ship, and branch. Used in this manner, food was a democratizing force and afforded men paths to social capital outside of their normal, job-related duties.

Makroekonomiczne skutki wprowadzenia waluty euro w wybranych krajach członkowskich Unii Europejskiej

Joining the EU and then the Economic and Monetary Union, the member states, including Poland, committed themselves to accept the euro. Replacing the national currency with the euro is a big challenge for a given economy and it is a process which requires economic and legal convergence. In practice, in the era of global financial and economic crises the question if and when to accept the euro is still valid and requires a comprehensive analysis. The article constitutes an attempt to analyze the basic macroeconomic indicators in the national economies of the countries which in the years 2004–2015 accepted the euro in order to verify the thesis of some measurable benefits resulting from introducing the community currency. The basic result of the monetary integration is accelerating the convergence and limiting the influence of the crisis shocks. However, unsuitable moment of the euro introduction may result in worsening the economic situation of a new member state of the Eurozone.

Community Currencies: An Ideology of Abundance

This essay explores the concept of cultural commons and provides an illustration of a cultural commons practice from an ethnographic study of a community currency. The following section links cultural commons practices to situated and social cognitive learning theories, and then provides practical application to the higher education classroom.

Currency Culture: Australian Identity and Nationalism in New South Wales before the Gold Rushes

This article examines the white, native-born population of New South Wales, known as ‘the currency’, between the 1820s and the discovery of gold in the 1850s. While Britishness was the dominant cultural influence before, and after, the gold rushes, the ‘currency lads and lasses’ often found their identity in opposition to British-born colonists, known as ‘the sterling’. This early incarnation of Australian nationalism is significant, it will be argued, as it reveals how quickly indigenous roots were claimed at the expense of Aboriginal Australians. Further, rather than a sense of Australianness within a larger British identity, the currency community held Britishness as part of their larger Australian identity. Drawing on examples of popular culture from the theatre, the press, and the sporting arena, this article explores the nature of this unique community who held Britishness as a secular religion but identified most strongly as white Australians.

Community rebuilding processes in a disaster-damaged area through community currency

PurposeCommunity currency (CC) is used as a tool for reviving local communities by promoting economic growth and facilitating the formation of social capital. Although the Japanese CC movement has stagnated since mid-2005, a new experiment, Fukkou Ouen Chiiki Tsuka (CC for supporting disaster recovery), was introduced across disaster-damaged areas after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 2011. Previous studies assessing the role of CC in these earthquake-damaged areas are rare; the purpose of this paper is to examine the micro processes of community rebuilding that underlie the transactional networks mediated by one of the experiments, Domo, in Kamaishi.Design/methodology/approachUsing transactional records capturing residents’ CC activities during the five-month pilot period before actual implementation of Domo simultaneous investigation for empirical network analysis techniques identify the network configuration dynamics representing the multiple observed forms of social capital in this disaster-affected local community.FindingsThis study of the five-month pilot for the Domo system revealed: intensive dependence on the coordinating role of core members (i.e. the creation of weak ties), a lack of balanced support among members and the resulting uni-directional transactions (i.e. the avoidance of generalized exchanges), and the reinforcement of previous transactional ties via reciprocation or transitive triads (i.e. the formation of strong ties).Originality/valueThis study provides guidance for practitioners, researchers, and policy makers on how community residents’ engagement in CC activities could function as a potential tool for generating positive socio-economic effects for local communities in disaster areas.

What is the Potential for Community Currencies to Deliver Positive Public Health Outcomes? Case Study of Time Credits in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, UK.

There is evidence that increased levels of community engagement and social participation can improve population health. Community currencies such as Time Credits are one way to support and encourage people to be more involved in their local community. As a result, they have attracted investment by local governments in the UK, with the hope of finding new ways to work with deprived communities, improve individual outcomes that lead to better health, and reduce the use of public services at a time of financial austerity. The aim of this research was to evaluate the health related outcomes of volunteering through Time Credits in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. The conceptual model developed during the research shows how Time Credits were expected to influence some of the social determinants of health and, by doing so, enhance health outcomes and reduce health inequalities. This in depth empirical study shows the potential of such activity to support pathways to better health, but equally demonstrates the challenges in quantifying such outcomes and in evidencing any reduction in the use of public services as a result.

Moving from Adaptive to Transformative Capacity: Building Foundations for Inclusive, Thriving, and Regenerative Urban Settlements

The commitment to understanding the implications of a 1.5 °C global temperature warming limit has contributed to a growing realisation that transformative adaptation is necessary to avoid catastrophic environmental and social consequences. This is particularly the case in urban settlements where disconnection from the systems that support life is pervasive and injustice and inequality play out daily. This paper argues that in order to transform towards thriving social-ecological systems, transformative capacity needs to be strengthened. The paper builds on the rich literature of adaptive capacity, alongside concepts of transformation that are drawn from resilience theory, organisational change, and developmental psychology. Reconnection to life-support systems, agency, and social cohesion are put forward as three foundational aspects of transformative capacity. A transdisciplinary case study of the FLOW programme in the Bergrivier Municipality, South Africa, is used to explore how transformative capacity has been built in practice. The case study explores an innovative programme that works with unemployed urban youth, alongside the exploration and introduction of a community currency in the informal business sector, and strengthening cross-scalar interaction between the local municipality and youth. The paper suggests that working across sectors and scales in a transdisciplinary manner is a challenging endeavour but necessary for building inclusive, thriving, and regenerative urban settlements.

Making sense of a crank case: monetary diversity in Argentina (1999–2003)

Based on empirical data, this study discusses the introduction, acceptance and circulation of two complementary currencies in Argentina that do not fit well in the main approaches to the nature of money. These two monetary circuits, provincial and community currencies, were introduced as units of account to denominate the value of debt and circulated as means of payment to overcome monetary stringency during the crisis of 1999-2003. After discussing several theories on the nature of money, we reflect on the institutional significance of currency circuits as concurrent and rather stable pairs of trade and money. We suggest that several theories of money need to be combined to account for the variety and heterogeneity of daily monetary practices in a broad spectrum of countries.

Ecumenical Chronicle

Ecumenical Chronicle

地域通貨の発行形態に応じた利用者の意識・行動分析 ゲーミング・シミュレーションを用いた検討

地域通貨の発行形態に応じた利用者の意識・行動分析 ゲーミング・シミュレーションを用いた検討

Money and the Commons: Lessons from Complementary Currencies

Complementary currencies (CCs) represent one of the financial initiatives aiming to reorganize finance for the collective interest at microscale. The objective of this article is to analyze the shared dimensions of such alternative currencies, and therefore define to what extent they constitute new commons. To this end, the article first sheds light on two main conceptions of the commons, the institutionalized commons in organizational studies and the “common principle” in business ethics. Second, we analyze the commons dimensions of seven CC systems. We contribute to the literature through the combination of different approaches on the commons that are usually isolated and provide a new understanding of money through the analysis of community currencies. The findings show how these monetary systems and organizations can be considered as commons according to the “common principle” framework since they promote the common interest through the creation of new communities. Nevertheless, only systems relying on collective action and self-management form new commons according to the institutionalized commons framework. This allows us to suggest two categories of common principle governing organizations: the “social common” that fulfills both the institutionalized commons framework and “common principle”, and the “commercial commons” that fulfill the “common principle” but not the institutionalized one. Finally, we argue for a new ethos of the common, a principle of organizing commons practices through both collective organization and ethical concern for human flourishing.

Community currency (CCs) in Spain: An empirical study of their social effects

Despite its sudden proliferation along the economic crisis period, no previous study has investigated the social effects of the community currency (CCs) experiences in Spain. Previous research on CCs experiences from different countries provided evidences about social capital improvement, introducing CCs as sustainability tools. This research uses the theoretical frameworks of social capital and complex adaptive systems to approach concepts like sustainability, networks, trust, norms, participation and cooperation. Statistical analysis of the data collected in June 2013 through online survey explores social capital and resilience indicators among the Spanish exchange community users, concluding that Spanish CCs systems improve community social capital through the proposed dimensions, although they are in an early stage and several weakness need to be corrected. The values, motivations, attitude and positive perception of their members suggest that CCs could be appropriate tools for sustainability due its potential to improve social capital and resilience. Detected weakness may affect the interests and commitment of their members. Therefore experience from senior currency systems may help them to face adversities and fully develop their potential for sustainability.

Evolutionary Process of Social Capital Formation through Community Currency Organizations: The Japanese Case

Community currency systems are said to influence the revival of communities by promoting either local economic growth or social capital accumulation. However, no empirical studies have examined the multiple competing mechanisms for providing social support through transactional networks among participants. The current study connects network structural concepts to theories of social capital, transaction costs, homophily, and resource dependency at multiple levels and evaluates transactional relationships for community rebuilding and local economic development. We examine the evolutionary process of dynamic networks among local residents or organization members with network configurations in one of the largest Japanese community currency systems, “Peanuts.” Using longitudinal network data over 12 years for approximately 1400 actors, we conclude that the evolution and achievement of transactional network dynamics and partner selections differ between the two groups of participants: individual members and organization members. We also provide practical implications for sustaining participants’ transactions and commitment.

Bitcoin and The Philosophy of Money: Evaluating the Commodity Status of Digital Currencies

The rhetoric in Satoshi Nakamoto's White Paper on the origins of Bitcoin suggests that the digital currency was envisioned as an entirely autonomous money. Due to the increase in popularity and circulation of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, an intense regulatory debate has been sparked at the global level. These debates reveal a fundamental tension regarding the role of the state in establishing money. While the digital currency community insists that Bitcoin is money, states and monetary authorities have declared Bitcoin a commodity, a declaration that can be traced back to Georg Friedrich Knapp's foundational text The State Theory of Money and reinforced by A. Mitchell Innes' The Credit Theory of Money. Circulating alongside state monies, Bitcoin is then neaccessory money,' unable to satisfy tax obligations and behaving as a commodity. This chartalist account of Bitcoin is refuted by what I identify as a libertarian/von Misean understanding of money motivating the circulation of digital currencies. I argue that the circulation of digital currencies is better explained by the chartalist narrative. I then prescribe Georg Simmel's Philosophy of Money, a broader understanding of money in which more abstract monies might create a supranational economic society, as an ideological alternative to digital currency advocates -- one that better conforms to the nature of money gestured to in Nakamoto's White Paper. However, even through the lens of Simmel, the limitations imposed by domestic authorities and taxation prevent digital currencies from reaching the envisioned state of autonomy. Synthesizing these understandings of money, Bitcoin may exist as a compromise, a means of international money transfer that weakens the abstract, international economic borders created by state monies.

The Tausch-centers of the 1940s: closed markets as an alternative to the black economy

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the Tausch- or barter-centers that existed in Germany during the 1940s. These small but unique platforms for the exchange of consumer durables represent an almost unknown chapter in economic history. This contribution aims to describe the major characteristics of these organizations and to investigate the implications of these findings for community currencies in general.Design/methodology/approach– An analysis is conducted of primary sources, which bring to light different types of these alternative markets. This is complemented by a comprehensive study of secondary sources.Findings– Theoretically, these exchange systems are interpreted as operating within boundaries. The results of this research project are not only relevant for our understanding of the war and post-war economy in Germany, at a time when the market mechanism was suppressed, this peculiar case also sheds some light on the functioning of markets. Furthermore, a better knowledge of the structure of the Tausch- or barter-centers is relevant with regard to our understanding of the functioning of community currencies in general.Originality/value– This paper provides the first survey of these organizations.

What influences the diffusion of grassroots innovations for sustainability? Investigating community currency niches

ABSTRACTCommunity action for sustainability is a promising site of socio-technical innovation. Here we test the applicability of co-evolutionary niche theories of innovation diffusion (strategic niche management, SNM) to the context of ‘grassroots innovations’ (GIs). We present new empirical findings from an international study of 12 community currency niches (such as Local Exchange Trading Schemes, time banks, and local currencies). These are parallel systems of exchange, designed to operate alongside mainstream money, meeting additional sustainability needs. Our findings confirm SNM predictions that niche-level activity correlates with diffusion success, but we highlight additional or confounding factors, and how niche theories might be adapted to better fit civil society innovations. In so doing, we develop a model of GI niche diffusion which extends existing work and tailors it to this specific context. The paper concludes with a series of theoretically informed recommendations for practitioners and policy-makers to support the development and potential of GIs.

Community currencies and sustainable development: A systematic review

Community or complementary currency systems have spread all around the world. Most often, they have been promoted as tools to foster sustainable development albeit they differ in terms of specific objectives. While many case studies have tried to assess the actual impact of these systems, there has been no global analysis summarizing their global impact.This paper aims to fill the gap by exploring whether complementary currencies contribute to the three pillars of sustainable development. We use the systematic review methodology on an original dataset gathering most academic publications on the topic in English, French and Spanish. Our main findings suggest that community currencies mostly contribute to social sustainability, and that their economic benefits are somewhat limited due to their small scale and the lack of awareness on their scope. Moreover, very few studies explicitly identify environmental outcomes. Finally, this review reveals some limits regarding current methods for impact assessment in this field. Therefore it encourages more standardization to provide greater accuracy and strengthen the legitimacy of community currencies in order to foster their continued development.

Equal Time, Equal Value: Community Currencies and Time Banking in the US

Equal Time, Equal Value: Community Currencies and Time Banking in the US

Development of Community Currency for Islamic Microfinance

Abstract The potential of Islamic microfinance is significant in contributing towards the alleviation of poverty and also promoting development of a nation. This is because Islamic microfinance has the ability to nurture its clients from being a recipient of zakat (obligatory contribution) to eventually becoming a zakat payer in the future. From the capital assistance provided to clients, Islamic microfinance institutions monitor its clients’ growth from start-up all the way to success. The emergence of technology had made life much simpler in the past few years. Also, with the interaction between members of the community, benefits of establishing this community via Islamic microfinance institutions would be expanded, rather than acting as capital provider alone. This can be made possible with the introduction of community currency, which is a medium to exchange goods and services within a community, where this community is defined to be a group with a common bond, such as members of a locality or an association, and it is not restricted geographically. The current study looks into the usage of community currency worldwide. The benefits of community currency usage are hence investigated. Finally with the findings gathered and discussions made throughout the research journey, the current study proposes a community currency framework which could serve as an alternative economy in a Malaysian context. The study examines secondary data, such as reports, documentaries and booklets to understand how community currency is being a success in other parts of the world. The study had also identified one type of community currency that can suit the environment of Islamic microfinance institutions, which is the Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) mechanism.

Study on the Mechanism of Community Currency Circulation Using Gaming and Multi-Agent Simulation

Study on the Mechanism of Community Currency Circulation Using Gaming and Multi-Agent Simulation