Schedule 9th International Degrowth Conference

There has been a resurgence of research in the utility of regional, complementary, and alternative currencies in transitioning to a more economically and ecologically sound world. The dominance of supranational currencies has been shown to exacerbate economic contractions in less resilient or underdeveloped countries while undermining local autonomy and trade (Price & Elu, 2014). Research suggests that regional currencies are aligned with maintaining community sovereignty, weathering global economic downturns, and are a necessary tool in the community control of production and trade (Seyfang, 2001; Fare & Ahmed, 2017). Alternative currencies have been used to counteract the outflow of local value in globalized/supranational currencies, however, it is slowly being repopularized as a tool for social and ecological justice, especially for the purposes of economic degrowth (Seyfang & Longhurst, 2013; Fuders, 2016). This paper examines the social and political context of three alternative currency projects, two established projects in the U.S. and Spain, and one emerging in Argentina, and to what extent they contradict or complement dominant currency systems. The overarching social framework of degrowth is applied to analyze the transformative nature of each currency and the possibilities they present of controlling the reduction and diversification of state economies.

Fare, M., & Ahmed, P. O. (2017). Complementary currency systems and their ability to support economic and social changes. Development and Change, 48(5), 847-872.

Fuders, F. (2016). Smarter money for smarter cities: How regional currencies can help to promote a decentralised and sustainable regional development. Decentralisation and Regional Development: Experiences and Lessons from Four Continents over Three Decades, 155-185.

N. Price, G., & U. Elu, J. (2014). Does regional currency integration ameliorate global macroeconomic shocks in sub-Saharan Africa? The case of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. Journal of Economic Studies, 41(5), 737-750.

Seyfang, G., & Longhurst, N. (2013). Growing green money? Mapping community currencies for sustainable development. Ecological economics, 86, 65-77.

Seyfang, G. (2001). Money that makes a change: Community currencies, North and South. Gender & Development, 9(1), 60-69.

Info

Day: 2023-08-30
Start time: 10:15
Duration: 00:15
Room: ZV-8-2
Type: Paper Presentation
Theme: Alternative economies

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