Tag: local currencies

New article: Paradigms in currency research

IJCCR

‘Monetary Plurality’ and ‘Currencies for an Alternative Economy’: Two paradigms of complementary currency research

Rolf Schroeder

Independent Author. Email: rolfschroeder.h@t-online.de

Abstract

Many practitioners and researchers in this field consider money to be the centrepiece of complementary currencies. This paper identifies a second line of thinking, through which the discourse on an ‘alternative economy’ had a significant influence on the development of these social innovations during the 1980s and 1990s. This article discusses two questions: The first one concerns the influence of, and the relationship between these two lines of thought. A monetary focus gradually superseded earlier interpretations of these systems and eventually occupied a dominant position. Is there sufficient common ground between researchers of cryptocurrencies and traditional complementary currencies to share a single discourse network? The second question concerns the potential of local currencies with strictly limited convertibility. Against the background of an impending recession this article offers a perspective of how newly designed complementary currencies can become viable elements of an alternative economic structure beside the capitalism economy.

Keywords

Complementary Currencies, Monetary Diversity, Alternative Economy, Money, Boundaries.

Article Schroeder

To cite this article: Schroeder, R. (2020) ‘‘Monetary Plurality’ and ‘Currencies for an Alternative Economy’: Two paradigms of complementary currency research’ International Journal of Community Currency Research Volume 24 (Summer 2020) 101-115; http://www.ijccr.net; ISSN 1325-9547; DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.15133/j.ijccr.2020.015

New article on Eusko (France)

IJCCR

The Eusko’s trajectory. Hypotheses to understand the success of the complementary local currency of the Northern Basque Country

Dante Edme-Sanjurjo*, Mathilde Fois-Duclerc**, Yannick Lung***, Julien Milanesi**** and Fabienne Pinos*****

* Euskal Moneta, Bayonne, France. eusko.dante@yahoo.fr

** Centre Emile Durkheim, UMR 5116 CNRS Sciences Po Bordeaux & MSHA, Bordeaux, France. mathilde.foisduclerc@gmail.com

*** GREThA, UMR 5113 CNRS Université de Bordeaux & Crisalidh, MSHA, Bordeaux, France. lung@u-bordeaux.fr

**** CERTOP, UMR 5044 CNRS Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France. julien.milanesi@iut-tlse3.fr

***** Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Bayonne, France. fabienne.pinos@iutbayonne.univ-pau.fr

Abstract

Launched in January 2013, the Eusko (complementary local currency of the Northern Basque Country in France) became the first local currency in Europe five years later, with the equivalent of more than one million euros in circulation, surpassing the Chiemgauer in Germany and the Bristol Pound in England. This paper aims to explain the development of this complementary local currency and to formulate hypotheses about the factors for its success. Part 1 gives a statistical overview of the Eusko’s trajectory, analysing the distribution of this currency in its chronological and spatial dimensions. Part 2 focuses on the specificity of the territorial context, which is characterized by a high density of the associative and cooperative movements. Part 3 details the mobilizing organizational devices that contribute to the Eusko’s success.

Keywords

Basque country, complementary local currency, digitalization, Eusko, France.

Article Edme-Sanjurjo et al.

To cite this article: Edme-Sanjurjo, D., Fois-Duclerc, M., Lung, Y., Milanesi, J. and Pinos F. (2020) ‘The Eusko’s trajectory. Hypotheses to understand the success of the complementary local currency of the Northern Basque Country’ International Journal of Community Currency Research Volume 24 (Summer 2020) 14-29; http://www.ijccr.net; ISSN 1325-9547; DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.15133/j.ijccr.2020.009

First RAMICS Award paper

IJCCR

How could blockchain be a key resource in the value creation process of a local currency? A case study centered on Eusko

Fabienne Pinos*

* IUT de Bayonne et du Pays Basque, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Bayonne, France. fabienne.pinos@univ-pau.fr

Abstract

Blockchain is seen as a major financial innovation for the years to come; it interests financial industry as well as some local currencies. Thus, it seems appropriate to analyze how Blockchain could be a key resource in the value creation process of a local currency. Our article aims first to analyze the potential contributions of Blockchain for local currencies. Then, we compare these contributions to the key resources and activities identified in the study of the value creation process of Eusko, the first European currency in circulation since the end of 2018. Launched in June 2011, managed by the association Euskal Moneta (EM), this initiative aims at creating value that can be considered as public value (Moore, 1995). We use the canvas of Osterwalder & al. (2011) to identify the key resources and activities of EM’s business model and explore how blockchain technology might or might not support them. We show that several factors can slow or even preclude the adoption of such a technology in an innovative context that solicits, in various forms, the adaptive capacities of project stakeholders. Through this case study, we wish to contribute to develop knowledge about economic models of local currencies.

Keywords

Local currency, blockchain, value creation, trust, transition.

Article Pinos

To cite this article: Pinos, F. (2020) ‘How could blockchain be a key resource in the value creation process of a local currency? A case study centered on eusko’ International Journal of Community Currency Research Volume 24 (Summer 2020) 1-13; http://www.ijccr.net; ISSN 1325-9547; DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.15133/j.ijccr.2020.008

New article on CCS in France

IJCCR

Volume 24, 1 – Winter (2020), pp. 11-29

Toward spatial analyses of local currencies: the case of France

Jérôme Blanc * and Csaba Lakócai **

* University of Lyon, Sciences Po Lyon, UMR Triangle, Lyon (France). Email: jerome.blanc@sciencespo-lyon.fr

** University of Pécs, Doctoral School of Regional Policy and Economics (Hungary); Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Regional Studies. Email: lakocai.csaba@ktk.pte.hu; lakocai.csaba@rkk.hu

Abstract

This paper suggests that studies on local currencies (LCs) should engage in spatial analyses, as far as their territorial distribution is highly heterogeneous. It provides a statistical overview of the territorial features of LCs functioning in France, wherein their number has increased solidly and remarkably fast over the last decade. However, there is a huge variety in their extent, and their development has not been spatially even, especially with regards to the administrative subdivision of the country in departments (counties or departments that correspond to the NUTS-3 level of regions according to the administrative territorial classification of the EU). This uneven distribution let us presume that it is interrelated with different territorial conditions, which motivated our research. We build a size index of LCs and provide a cluster presentation of them as of 2018. A departmental territorial breakdown of data shows statistically significant spatial concentrations of LCs in France. We then provide insights into the reasons for such concentrations.

Keywords

Local currencies, France, territorial distribution, spatial statistics, size index.

Article Blanc Lakocai

To cite this article: Blanc, J. and Lakócai, C. (2020) ‘Toward spatial analyses of local currencies: The case of France’ International Journal of Community Currency Research Volume 24 (Winter 2020) 11-29; http://www.ijccr.net; ISSN 1325-9547; DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.15133/j.ijccr.2020.002

Contrasted cases. Successes and failures of local currency schemes in France since 2010

IJCCR

Jérôme Blanc* and Marie Fare**

* Université de Lyon / Sciences Po Lyon, Triangle

** Université de Lyon / Université Lumière Lyon 2, Triangle

This text contemplates the difficulties of French local currencies and the pathways to improvement, in the event of greater sustainability at the local level. After a panorama of the French local currencies, and the observation of a disappointment from a quantity viewpoint, the paper discusses requirements and improvements for a local currency (LC) to contribute to a greater sustainability at the local level. It presents the notion of the relevant territory for a local currency. It then discusses a few crucial points of improvement and the difficulties they face: the role of local governments as major partners; the need for employees in order to constitute a permanent basis for the scheme’s activity and development; the need for an digital counterpart of the currency; the need for financing activities. The conditions for a ripple effect are eventually discussed.

Article Blanc and Fare

To cite this article: Jérôme Blanc and Marie Fare (2018) ‘Pathways to Improvement. Successes and Difficulties of Local Currency Schemes in France since 2010’ International Journal of Community Currency Research 2018 Volume 22 (Winter) 60-73 <www.ijccr.net> ISSN 1325-9547. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15133/j.ijccr.2018.006