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Local Currencies Strengthen Local Communities

USA Today has a piece on local currencies here. Excerpt: "A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money. "Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to…
Mark T. Mitchell
Mark T. Mitchell
April 2, 2009

USA Today has a piece on local currencies here.

Excerpt:

“A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money.

“Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses.

“The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount — say, 95 cents for $1 value — and spend the full value at stores that accept the currency.”

The E.F. Schumacher Society has been promoting this idea for some years and with good results.  See more here.  Could local currencies play a role in our economic recovery? If this idea caught on, how would it change the global economic system? Can the majority of Americans imagine an economy not based on government-issued money?

h/t  to Rob Gingerich.

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A stack of three Local Culture journals and the book 'Localism in the Mass Age'
Mark T. Mitchell

Mark T. Mitchell

Mark T. Mitchell is the co-founder of Front Porch Republic. He is the Dean of Academic Affairs at Patrick Henry College and the author of several books including Plutocratic Socialism, Power and Purity, The Limits of Liberalism, The Politics of Gratitude, and Localism in Mass Age: A Front Porch Republic Manifesto (co-editor).

6 comments

  • limitedgovernment
    16 years ago

    I just found this site, and it looks very interesting.

    I found this a couple of months ago, and I have been sharing it with various people to see what their reactions are: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/938695/localism_liberty.html?cat=9.

    This looked like a reasonable place to post it.

  • James Matthew Wilson
    16 years ago

    Could the domestic dollar squash the All Might Dollar? In any case, a good idea that trades the appearance of efficiency for the reality of responsibility.

  • Caleb Stegall
    16 years ago

    If it ever caught on it would be ruthlessly squashed by the Empire as an act of treason. Currency monopoly is a necessary tool of uniform accounting which is required for centralized control and, as always, insuring that the first and biggest piece of the pie goes to the gods of state.

  • Jason Peters
    16 years ago

    Wendell wouldn’t approve of his own image on the currency, but he might approve of a strategically raised middle finger imprinted thereon.

    Good post, FPer Mitchell.

  • Mark T. Mitchell
    16 years ago

    Are there any economists out there who would care to comment on the macro-economic implications of this? What would happen if it caught on and lots of communities started doing this?

  • Eric Donavon E
    16 years ago

    I like it…only, the temptation to put Wendell on the bill is too strong and I’m afraid he wouldn’t like it.

Comments are closed.