[wsfii-discuss] Worldchanging article on Complementary currencies

Fri Oct 7 13:06:57 UTC 2005

Yep, agreed - only passed it on cos I could vaguely see a useful role
for it in slowly developing economies such as parts of Africa where
informal microbusinesses are pretty much the only growth sector but
which banks won't touch with a bargepole. There are some foreign
government schemes to provide micro-loans and business advice but a
system of exchange which could be funded by direct donation would
potentially be
really useful and ensure that donations benefit local communities rather
than foreign aid workers?

Then again, I'm *not* an economist and am probably talking through my
hat? As my friend is probably about to tell me ;-)

Paula

Josef Davies-Coates wrote:

> Paula,
>
> I am my collegues at uniteddiversity have studied economics (we're
> London School of Economics graduates)
>
> To be honest though, economists are the last people you want to ask
> about such issues since most of them don't understand the issues at
> all, thinking that money is essentially neutral.
>
> As stuff like The Ecology of Money makes clear (written by Richard
> Douthwaite who was himself previously a senior gov't economist) how,
> why and by whom money is created makes a massive difference.
>
> See http://www.feasta.org/documents/moneyecology/intro.htm
>
> Josef.
>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 17:28:35 +0100
>> From: Paula <pmg at gmx.co.uk>
>> Subject: Re: [wsfii-discuss] Worldchanging article on Complementary
>>     currencies
>> To: Discuss list on the World Summit on Free Information
>>     Infrastructure    <wsfii-discuss at lists.okfn.org>
>> Message-ID: <434550B3.3080000 at gmx.co.uk>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>>
>> Well, so far my economist friend hasn't responded  but I am, indeed,
>> expecting to be told I'm an old hippy with a touching, if misplaced,
>> faith in human nature! - I'll let you know ;-)
>> I'm personally a big fan of microeconomic community solutions and ol'
>> fashioned stuff like credit unions . . . And also think that such
>> schemes can be a powerful example which, even if not adopted wholesale,
>> offer practical solutions to specific probelms and, maybe more
>> importantly, vision which inspires wider social change.
>>
>> Paula
>>
>> piksieben at gmail.com wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Paula wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> I was just rather defensively hoping to head off a relatively
>>>> conservative development economist friend telling me I'm bonkers. I
>>>> sent
>>>> it to him cos I think he ought to consider it since he's interested in
>>>> working with micro-economic collectives - but, of course, it *would*
>>>> manage to copy itself to the list via the reply-to field!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'd love to hear the opinion of an economist (or two) on this. I'm
>>> pretty sure they'll kill it in an instant.
>>>
>>> Anyway, when I was "forced" to exchange 5 pounds to limes on the
>>> weekend i was pretty annoyed, because effectively it made me to have
>>> my lunch in one of a very few shops that were selected for
>>> non-economic reasons by people that I have no influence on.
>>>
>>> I'd also like to hear the opinion on this from local shop owners who
>>> weren't part of the program. I suppose they wouldn't be thrilled if
>>> they knew about this unfair scheme.
>>>
>>> Basically this was simply a transfer of power from me to the issuers
>>> of Limes. That's not good at all. Well if it was more than 5 quid that
>>> is, plus the food was actually okay, so I'm not *really* complaining
>>> but just trying to make a point. :)
>>>
>>> Torsten
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> wsfii-discuss at lists.okfn.org
>>> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/wsfii-discuss
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>> End of wsfii-discuss Digest, Vol 8, Issue 12
>> ********************************************
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