LetS Research Articles

A multiplex network approach to the self-organizing bonding and bridging social capital fostered among local residents: A case study of community currency in Korea under the Hanbat LETS

A variety of community currency systems have been adopted, implemented, and terminated among the local communities of Korea over the last two decades. Despite its volatility due to the economic, social, and political environmental changes occurring in Korean society, the Hanbat local exchange trading system (LETS) is regarded as an innovative practice in grassroots community currency schemes based on trust and cooperation among local residents and plays a critical role in promoting community rebuilding and the formation of a sharing economy in this area. This study is aimed at empirically investigating the microprocesses underlying the formation of multiple types of social capital—bonding, bridging, and linking social capital—that were observed in the transactions among the Hanbat LETS members through inferential network analysis. The findings show that bonding and bridging social capital coexist in both a singular (or uniplex) type and in distinct (or multiplex) types of transactional tie developments among the participants through this community currency system. By examining the ways in which these multiple types of social capital are fostered through a bottom-up approach focused on a community currency system, the results of this study suggest the potential roles played by peer-to-peer support exchanges and the sharing economy in a local community.

The case against alternative currencies

Local Currencies, Local Exchange Trading Systems, and Time Banks are all part of a new social movement that aims to restrict money's purchasing power within a certain geographic area, or within a certain community. According to their proponents, these restrictions may contribute to building sustainable local economies, supporting local businesses and creating “warmer” social relations. This article inquires whether the overall enthusiasm that surrounds alternative currencies is justified. It argues that the potential benefits of these currencies are not sufficient to justify the restrictions they impose on money's purchasing power. Turning these currencies into effective channels of change, by increasing their scope and their strength, could severely hinder the pursuit of social justice, in a way that is probably not even necessary for achieving their objectives. The paper concludes that large-scale limitations of money's purchasing power are, therefore, undesirable.

The Local Exchange Trading System in France (Système d’Échange Local (SEL)): Creating a scale to measure motivations for participation in SEL practice and identification of SEL member profiles

While Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) are regularly cited in the literature on collaborative consumption, they have paradoxically rarely been studied by researchers in the field of marketing. In France, although LETS, or SELs ( Systèmes d’Échanges Locaux), continue to develop, they suffer from high member turnover. This raises the question of whether the existing SELs are responding to the underlying motivations for participation in SEL practice. What is the nature of SEL member motivations? Are these motivations different from those in collaborative consumption more generally? Is it possible to measure them and thus propose SEL member profiles based on these motivations? A qualitative study of 16 SEL members and a quantitative study of 957 SEL members revealed five types of motivations and five SEL member profiles –‘the intellectual protester’, ‘the novice SEL member’, ‘the affective idealist’, ‘the pragmatic consumer’ and ‘the accomplished SEL member’. The theoretical contributions of this study include notably the importance of the ‘for intellectual enrichment’ motivation and the creation of a reliable and valid scale for measuring motivations for participating in SEL practice. The findings have consequences for SEL management teams, who will be able to use them to reduce high turnover and improve the nature of their exchange offers, the effectiveness of their internal and external communications and the recruitment of new members.

The role of technology in collaborative consumer communities

Purpose While some collaborative consumption activities are underpinned by commercial logics and dispositions, local collaborative consumer communities are organised around non-commercial values and driven by the desire to organise social relationships differently. These communities are based on the notions of a commons, sharing and reciprocity. However, because they make little use of digital tools (internet to coordinate the exchange of services, social media to communicate), they are not very visible to consumers. This paper aims to identify these non-commercial organisations’ relationship to digital tools and determine how these organisations can generate individual and/or collective well-being. Design/methodology/approach This study examined the case of the local exchange trading system (LETS), a local collaborative consumer community that practices a moneyless exchange of services. A qualitative study was conducted based on 23 in-depth interviews with LETS managers. Findings Due to the communities’ local roots and regular face-to-face meet-ups, there did not seem to be a pressing need to use an online platform to coordinate the exchange of services. However, the results showed that the use of digital tools increased these communities’ well-being potential (e.g. development of social ties, solidarity and social equality) while reducing their negative effects (e.g. fatigue due to community involvement and difficulty integrating new members). They also introduce the notions of generation, founder’s personality and management team’s dynamism into the collaborative consumption literature. Originality/value It is important to focus on how these “alternative” markets function. Consumers use them but without abandoning more traditional markets. Understanding how they work improves the understanding of the competition they pose to traditional services and how the different ecosystems complement one another.

Mutualism as market practice: An examination of market performativity in the context of anarchism and its implications for post-capitalist politics

This article interrogates the performative effects of mutualist ideas in the context of market-making. Mutualism is a variety of anarchism associated with the work of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who argued for the centrality of market exchanges and mutual credit as a means for emancipating workers from capitalist exploitation. The discussion is informed by an ethnographic inquiry within a Local Exchange Trading System in Spain – the Moneda Social Puma – which illustrates how actors put mutualist ideas to work. This research makes three contributions: first, it frames a view of market multiplicity and plasticity that broadens the current scope of market studies beyond a managerialist focus. Second, it reveals how actors mobilise anarchist theories to shape – rather than escape – markets. Third, this work elucidates how actors negotiate and stabilise conflicting forms of valuation as mutualist ideas are implemented. In particular, we draw attention to a set of infrastructural practices and mutual credit arrangements whereby the market is cooperatively managed as a common. We conclude by reflecting on the implications of our work for extant debates concerning post-capitalist politics, markets and anarchism.

Social Capital Formation Through a Polish LETS: Challenging the Presumed Merits of Local Currencies

The study examines the mechanisms of social capital formation in a Polish local exchange trading system to determine whether the interpersonal interactions connected with transactions influence the cooperative attitudes and behaviors of system members. The stochastic actor-oriented model for the coevolution of social network and individual behavior is utilized. Simultaneously analyzing the dynamics of the network of social ties associated with transactions and the change in a proxy for cooperative behavior does not provide evidence for the spreading of cooperative attitudes. Neither exposure to good-example providers nor the high activity of members in the system enhances their cooperative behavior. On the contrary, network formation is conditioned by the cooperative attitudes of its members.

Opposition and Isomorphism with the Neoliberal Logic in Community Exchange Systems

The purpose of this article is to assess to what extent Community Exchange Systems (CES), and particularly the Grenoble's SEL (Systèmes d'Echange Local) which are counterparts to the Anglo-Saxon Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS), constitute an alternative to neoliberal rationalisation. Our analysis is grounded in the French convention theory (Economie des conventions) and feeds on a long-term action research conducted on CES. This research uncovered trends in institutional isomorphism as well as strategies for resistance developed by local actors.

Local Currency for Community Development: Policy Barriers and Support

Local currency holds promise for relieving poverty while enhancing social capital and helping communities meet goals. In spite of this, governmental policies have created barriers to its full success. This article examines local currency from a community development perspective, reviews the policy environment in the United States, and identifies policy changes that can support local currencies. Four major types of local currency—proxy, fiat, local exchange trading systems, and time banks—are described. Federal policy barriers in the US Constitution, statutes, and tax regulations as well as state prohibitions to local currency are examined.

Financial geography: introduction to the Virtual Issue

This introduction traces the development of financial geography through 15 papers selected for a Virtual Issue and previously published in Transactions between 1976 and 2014. The birth of a distinctive literature on the geographies of money and finance can be traced back to the mid 1990s, although Transactions published a few earlier papers dealing with building societies and international lending. Other finance‐related topics of interest include: retail banking, financial exclusion, local exchange trading systems, venture capital investments, emerging markets, Islamic banking, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, financial crises, tourism and mining. While British financial geography dominates the literature in the early years, other countries and international financial flows slowly enter the debate. Although financial geographies are slowly being decentred and rescaled, more work is needed to make the literature more inclusive and geographically diverse. Financial geography built originally on work in economic geography, political economy, urban geography and political geography, but later also includes cultural economy and social studies of finance. Finally, the financial geography literature has established itself within geography and increasingly also within interdisciplinary and pluralistic political and cultural economy.

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.

Transaction network analysis for studying Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS): Research potentials and limitations

The numerous studies of Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) have so far been based mostly on qualitative approaches. The aim of this paper is to introduce the method of transaction network analysis as an important complement to these studies, enabling one to quantitatively describe functioning of LETS in terms of the actual flows of currency, materialized transactions and topology of the exchange network, the types of information markedly missing in most of the existing LETS studies. We demonstrate the potentials of the method on the case of the LETS initiative “RozLEŤSe” based in Brno, Czech Republic. Looking at the transaction flows using the network analysis approach, we identify the key members of the group, network characteristics of the exchange system and its development over time. This allows us not only to provide a complex description of the system, but also to simulate certain scenarios (e.g. removal of a key person from the network). Within the discussion of potentials and limitations of applying transaction network analysis for studying LETS and other community currency initiatives (e.g. time banks) on a larger scale, we also provide a free accessible software tool for doing so and invite other researchers to cooperate on the task.

LET’s start new a LETS: Learning from a case-study investigation in Brno, Czech Republic

This paper brings information about the operation of RozLEŤSe, a LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) network, based inBrno. LETS are parallel sustainable monetary systems, in which local community networks attempt to extricate themselves from the international economy by using their own currency. LETS is supposed to promote sustainable development by localising economic development. Although, there used to be several LETS group in the Czech Republic, all of them vanished during the first few years of the new millennium. RozLEŤSe was built from the remains of former LETS groups. Hence, the aim of this study is to determine possible threats to the future existence of the group and evaluate its current operations. This research is a sociological case study investigation examining the socio-demographic characteristics, motivations and organisational functioning of the group. We point out some serious threats to the group (lack of supply, growth in negative credit, decrease in trust) and offer possible solutions.

Editorial

Dear readers With the end of 2013 in sight, we are happy to publish this new fully English issue of Envigogika – our second English-only edition this year. The publishing of Envigogika over the last two years has been made possible thanks to project funding for the Interdisciplinary Sustainable Development Network (MOSUR project, OP VK), and we are very grateful for this support. Apart from Envigogika, our team is also preparing a number of events relating to sustainable development (as part of the MOSUR project), which we’d like to draw your attention to. The following events are planned for early 2014: • January 22nd: Practical workshop for educators: The World beyond 2015 – Education for Sustainability, more info here • February 17th and 19th:Academic article writing workshops for young researchers (PhDs, postdocs) with Assoc. Prof. Rodrigo Lozano - Associate Editor of an Elsevier academic journal (the Journal of Cleaner Production), more info here • February 18th: Workshop for academic journal editors with Assoc. Prof. Rodrigo Lozano, more info here • March 30th–April 5th: International Spring School on Sustainable Development 2014 for Bachelor and Master students, more info here. We would be very happy to welcome you to any of these planned events. Now, back to the current English issue of Envigogika, we are very pleased to bring you several interesting and inspiring articles by authors from the Czech Republic, as well as farther afield (Slovenia, Australia). The articles encompass a wide range of themes relating to environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD), as well as sustainable development in more general terms. You can therefore read about: 1) Earthkeepers in the Czech Republic: Experience from the implementation process of an earth education programme (Reviewed Paper) by Jan Činčera and Bruce Johnson. ‘Earthkeepers’ is an earth education programme developed by the international Institute for Earth Education. The authors report on the implementation and subsequent evaluation process of this programme for the first time in the Czech Republic – in the Bohemian Paradise Ecological Education Centre (Středisko ekologické výchovy Český ráj). The results of the study suggested that participation in the programme had a positive impact on pupils’ ecological knowledge and attitudes, and the authors discuss the potential for further dissemination of the programme in the Czech Republic. 2) LET’s start a new LETS: Learning from a case study in Brno, Czech Republic (Reviewed Paper) by Lukáš Kala. The article introduces us to the so-called Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) and the system’s recent history in the Czech Republic, and then reports on RozLEŤSe – a LETS system in the city of Brno, Czech Republic. The authors specifically examine the socio-demographic characteristics, motivations and organisational operations of the group and focus on the potential threats to the continued work of the LETS system. 3) Ethics and Ecoethics by Josef Petr Ondok: Between the Sciences, Philosophy, and Theology (Reviewed Paper) by Zuzana Svobodová. This philosophical text analyses the work of Josef Petr Ondok – Czech theologian, philosopher and biologist – from the perspective of ethics and ecoethics. 4) The Purpose of Education: Australian and Slovenian perspectives in Education for Sustainability (Inspiration) by Phil Smith and Majda Naji. The authors present their view on the purpose of education in the context of sustainable development and include examples of education for sustainable development from their countries – Slovenia and Australia. 5) Environmental mining limits in the North Bohemian Lignite Region. Book review: Říha, M., Stoklasa, J., Lafarová, M., Dejmal, I., Marek, J., Pakosta, P., Beránek, K. Environmental mining limits in the North Bohemian Lignite Region. Společnost pro krajinu, Praha 2005. Translation: Petr Kurfürst. This book review written by Andrew Barton looks at the issue of mining limits in the region of North-West Bohemia in the Czech Republic and briefly summarises from the content of the book originally published in 2005 (in Czech, but later translated into English) supplemented with the most up-to-date information on the current situation. 6) Informational texts: A very interesting article on environmental literacy by Petr Daniš, originally published as a reviewed article in Czech (Envigogika 3/2013), has been translated into English and is now available to our readers. School teachers might be interested in the announcement of a school essay competition run by The Living Rainforest, a UK-based charity. 7) Related announcements: As we feel that dialogue on environmental education and ESD related issues in CZ should be promoted nationally and internationally, this time we are publishing two issues simultaneously (for the content of the Czech issue of Envigogika, see here). We wish you inspirational reading and a peaceful Christmas holiday, as well as a successful New Year. The Envigogika editorial team In Prague on 20. 12. 2013

The Local Exchange Trading Systems: an innovative mode of exchange for SMEs?

Purpose of the study . the purpose of this work is to understand if barter, through Local Exchange Trading Systems, could constitute a response used by firms in order to face the Capitalism crisis; do firms achieve benefits through joining a LETS? Moreover, we will try to understand how these firms work and what the services provided in order to allow B2B transactions are. Methodology . We developed a multiple case study selecting two Italian firms: Sardex. Net and Sicanex. Net, because of their representativeness with regard to our issue. Our primary source of data was the interview. Research limits . In order to increase our understanding of the local exchange trading systems, it would be useful to compare the italian market with other markets in Europe and elsewhere involved by the same phenomenon. Findings . The local exchange trading systems, by renewing the traditional mode of exchange provide an opportunity to re – localize the economy. Practical implications . It aims to contribute on the understanding of what is the advantage for firms to join to a local exchange trading system and for the local economy. Originality of the study . This work sheds light on an increasing phenomenon. The widespread of firms that are promoting reciprocal credit networks requires more academic attention.

Feasibility of selected private money

The goal of the entry: “Feasibility of selected private money” is the assessment of practicability of selected private money types as future currency especially in terms of attributes that the currency should meet to fulfil all claims required by its users. In the first step the features that the widely used currency has to have will be described and it will be analysed which of these features are characteristic for nowadays currencies (Czech crown and Euro) too. In the second step private (unnationalized) money will be described as well as several concepts derived from it. The paper will concern mainly on Hayek’s concept of private money and on particular variations of Local exchange trading systems. In the next part there will be pointed out good and bad features of these types of money, mainly from the view of characteristics that the proper currency should have. At the end it will be carried out the comparison of bad and good effects resulting from using of particular currencies types and I will decide about the applicability of analysed private money types. The paper uses the standard methods of scientific work. Firstly, the method of description is used to describe the development of private money concepts and characteristic features that the currency should have. Then, a comparative analysis is used to discuss the differences between contemporary currencies and unnationalized currencies as well as between required and real features of particular private money. At the end the method of synthesis, deduction and induction is used.

Comedy in the Ashes

Comedy in the Ashes Eugene Wildman (bio) Girl Held in Home. Elizabeth Searle. New Rivers Press. http://www.newriverspress.com/. 217 pages; paper, $14.95. In case fans of John Barth have been wondering what that master ironist might have done with 9/11 and its aftermath, hold onto your hats. Here comes Elizabeth Searle to give us a pretty good idea of at least what some possibilities are. Girl Held in Home is set in the frenetic days after the fall of the towers and told in alternating chapters from the perspective of Maura Simon, a 40ish suburban Massachusetts mom, and Joezy, her very pubescent fifteen-year-old son. The action commences not long after 9/11, on Halloween, when two Saudi brothers, gotten up to look like a terrorist dragging a dead Marine, stage their own shock and awe trick-or-treat assault. The author is not a newbie just arrived on the literary scene. Searle has been publishing since the early 1980s and is the author of three well regarded previous works of fiction: a story collection, My Body to You (1993), which won the Iowa Short Fiction Prize; her first novel, A Four-Sided Bed (1998); and most recently, Celebrities in Disgrace (2001), a novella and stories. Girl Held in Home is thus her fourth book and the second novel. In addition, Searle has done theater work that garnered her acclaim, and the novella "Celebrities" was made into a film. She has also taught creative writing at several universities, including Brown, Emerson, Rutgers, and University of Massachusettes. The new novel, part thriller and part romance, is tense and satirically funny at once. The action kicks off when the trick or treating duo rings the Simons's doorbell. Standing there is the Rakeen Jiluwi, dressed in traditional Arab garb and holding a leash attached to which is his younger brother Rasha, outfitted in a fake-blood spattered Marine uniform meant to simulate a dead American. The reclusive Saudi family is already viewed with suspicion thanks to their standoffish ways, and the brothers are clearly acting out their resentment and disdain. But is there more to it? Rakeen claims the family has diplomatic immunity, putting them beyond reach of even the FBI. This is all shocking and tension-inducing enough; but things don't really get rolling until the appearance of a seventeen-year-old Vietnamese girl who is the Jiluwi family's servant. Or is it prisoner, or possibly even slave? In any event, once Joezy lays eyes on her, he is smitten, and one testosterone-fueled fantasy leads inevitably to another. When the girl hands Joezy a handwritten note describing her predicament, the impulsive teen sets out to free her, with near-tragic consequences. The plaintive note declares simply: MY NAME LE TI ONE I AM VIETNAM OF BIRTH I AM CALLED ONE MY FAMILY OF HIGH ESTEEM BUT FALL INTO NEED I AM OF WORK TO THE PRINCE AND FAMILY BUT NOT OF PAY MONEY NOTHING HERE AND I HAVE FALL IN NEED ALL KINDNESS MUCH I PAY BACK While Joezy is leaving childhood behind and asserting his independence, Maura, his mother, is in the midst of her own midlife rebellion and changes. Until now, she has been a reasonably content PTA mom and part-time music teacher. But now her husband Dan is away on business, stuck in New York where he is unable to get home thanks to bomb threats that keep the rail lines tied up. Or is that baloney? And even if it isn't, is he using it as convenient cover for an affair? Maura cannot be sure. Meanwhile, for her part, she is having a serious dalliance with a woman admirer and fellow PTAer, Frannie, who has admired her since her college dancer days, when she went by the more exotic name Mara. Maura has been faithful through the years of her marriage, but the relationship is stale, the attraction to women is real, and what with doubts about her husband's affections, along with Frannie's advances, she is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. Once in college she almost went all the way...

What was the Deal for the Participants of the Argentine Local Currency Systems, the Redes de Trueque?

Local complementary currency systems (LCCSs), like the Local Exchange Trading System scheme in the English-speaking world, are one of the alternative economies organised to overcome the exclusionary aspects of the regular market economy and support those short of money. I analyse the benefits for the poor and unemployed of the Argentine variant, called Clubes de Trueque. I conclude that the Clubes de Trueque were a meeting point of social strata and gender groups. They became a market space “for us, women”, rather than a second-class market “for us, the poor”. In economic terms they facilitated the access to goods and services for the disenfranchised middle class and the unemployed, but did not correct the exclusionary mechanisms that affect the poorest of the poor. These findings suggest that LCCSs can help some low-income groups to protect and improve their lifestyles but are not a general tool for poverty reduction.

El Evangelio de Judas: análisis y controversias

In the beginning of this year the discover of a book that was believed to be lost, the so called Gospel of Judas, impacted the world. Its reading, after of sixteen centuries, allows to obtain a very different vision of Jesus of Nazaret and Judas Iscariot than the one that can be read in the Gospels included in the New Testament, in the Bible. The Gospel belongs to the Gnostic tradition, one of a series of sects that used to compose the initial and fertile universe of Christendom. These texts were hermetical in their language, allegories, and of a very difficult comprehension. The big blame, the big betrayer of the Messiah, was Judas Iscariot who, nowadays, is presented through his Gospel as the best friend of Jesus and the person in charge to initiate His Passion. Let´s remember that in 1868 it was published the very first books that look to redeem him, “Memories of Judas” by Ferdinando Petruccelli della Gattina: in the book Judas had a friendly relationship with Jesus

The Moral Economy of Parallel Currencies

Abstract. This article offers a monetary analysis of Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) and examines both their moral and economic significance as well as the way in which these two aspects may conflict. After considering LETS' principles and history, I review three monetary theories in order to ascertain how one might best explore these phenomena. By drawing on the “Chartalist” tradition in monetary theory, I show (1) how strongly oriented LETS are to the formal market economy, from which, it is held, they detach themselves, and (2) that they do not effect a return to barter or an abolition of money, as is sometimes claimed. Both points become clear when one pays due attention to the primary function of money as money‐of‐account. In the final section, I consider LETS empirically and compare their structural potentials with their concrete form. LETS' members are motivated less by pecuniary gain than by the desire to build community and realize certain values. Participants have little motivation to expand LETS, which are therefore destined to remain small and ineffectual in offering an alternative to the unemployed and less well‐off. Indeed, were LETS to grow in size, the moral commitment required of members would come into conflict with the growing financial interests at stake.

Local Exchange Trading Systems: Globalising Rural Communities

This paper is a sociological investigation of an alternative economic network that is active in Ireland and throughout the western world. This network is based on Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS). LETS is composed of a network of people who attempt to delink from the international cash-based economy as much as possible. They wish to trade goods and services on a barter basis, among a limited group in the local area. This research is a case study of one LETS operating in west Cork in the south-west of Ireland. Does this group of people form the vanguard of a new social movement in the region? What is the best means of conceptualising their activities sociologically? It is proposed here that the employment of Moichel Maffesoli's concept of 'neo-tribes' is the most useful framework to understand this group. They are generally counter-urban, and non-Irish, and impermanence and transience are the main features of their socio-economic activities. However, it is argued here that they form a crucial part of the changing social lanscape of rural Ireland, as they provide a social springboard for other alternative social activities such as farmers' markets. Fora such as LETS help to foster social contact between people and thus breathe new life into rural communities that might otherwise be in serious decline.