Local Currencies
Why?
Economical Sustainability
To improve citizens' well-being, we need stable and sustainable economical systems that bring employment security and well functioning services. In addition, they should provide purchasing power to everyone, preventing poverty and reducing inequalities while promoting good environmental practices.
Local currencies have the potential of meeting these needs by increasing economical resilience to shocks, diminishing inequalities, and improving environmental sustainability. New liquidity can be created without requiring additional costs from taxpayers or governments and can be used in economical spheres that lack budget such as social, cultural and ecological projects.
To increase economical resilience, local currencies enhance the diversity and adaptability of the economical system.
To diminish inequalities, the currency must mitigate its economic accumulation, polarization, and marginalization.
To improve environmental sustainability, the objective must be to reduce transport, emissions, resource use, and waste.
Moreover, reinforcing food security, diversity, community and general resilience would decrease the vulnerability of our society to sudden changes (environmental hazards, droughts, pandemics, etc.).
In order to encourage such development, a European Policy Brief recommends that local currencies should be established and distributed to all its citizens as a basic income. However, there is no record yet of such practice.
A city or region could use local currencies to create an alternative economy thus enabling:
- a flourishing sector of locally owned businesses (which could better compete against supermarket chains)
- reinforcement of ecological, cultural, educational or regional identity activities
- more environmentally sustainable worker cooperatives and community projects
- improvement of public institutions to meet housing and transit needs
Through a participatory and democratic process, an alternative currency would empower communities to build their own transitions towards a sustainable society.