IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v31y1999i9p1639-1653.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Local Exchange and Trading Schemes: A Useful Strand of Community Economic Development Policy?

Author

Listed:
  • R K O'Doherty
  • J Dürrschmidt
  • P Jowers
  • D A Purdue

    (Faculty of the Built Environment, University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY, England)

Abstract

We identify local exchange and trading schemes (LETS) as a social movement rooted in the alternative milieux of greens, feminists, new agers, and so on, comprising those committed to experimenting with new ideas and identities. LETS have the potential to strengthen these milieux and thereby reinforce civil society within a locality, enhancing the benefits from a web of personal networks and extending them through weak links. LETS might also act as seed beds for new skills and practices which spill over into wider social and economic networks. Thus, by promoting networks which facilitate flows of information and innovation, and thereby building the capacity for responding to social change, LETS could contribute to community economic development. LETS form part of a cultural rather than technological innovation milieu. Our fieldwork in Stroud, Bristol, and environs suggests that, given the typical member's preference to remain distanced from the state, it is likely that a hands-off approach would be most successful in realising the potential of LETS. To tie such schemes to specific policy goals would ignore the symbolic meanings attached to membership of them.

Suggested Citation

  • R K O'Doherty & J Dürrschmidt & P Jowers & D A Purdue, 1999. "Local Exchange and Trading Schemes: A Useful Strand of Community Economic Development Policy?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 31(9), pages 1639-1653, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:31:y:1999:i:9:p:1639-1653
    DOI: 10.1068/a311639
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a311639
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a311639?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. L Thorne, 1996. "Local Exchange Trading Systems in the United Kingdom: A Case of Re-Embedding?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(8), pages 1361-1376, August.
    2. R Lee, 1996. "Moral Money? LETS and the Social Construction of Local Economic Geographies in Southeast England," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(8), pages 1377-1394, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Carl J Griffin, 2010. "Becoming Private Property: Custom, Law, and the Geographies of ‘Ownership’ in 18th- and 19th-Century England," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(3), pages 747-762, March.
    2. Theresa Aldridge & Jane Tooke & Roger Lee & Andrew Leyshon & Nigel Thrift & Colin Williams, 2001. "Recasting Work: The Example of Local Exchange Trading Schemes," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(3), pages 565-579, September.
    3. Georgina M Gómez, 2010. "What was the Deal for the Participants of the Argentine Local Currency Systems, the Redes de Trueque?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(7), pages 1669-1685, July.
    4. Noel Longhurst, 2013. "The Emergence of an Alternative Milieu: Conceptualising the Nature of Alternative Places," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(9), pages 2100-2119, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Colin C. Williams & Jan Windebank, 2000. "Self-help and Mutual Aid in Deprived Urban Neighbourhoods: Some Lessons from Southampton," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(1), pages 127-147, January.
    2. A Leyshon & N Thrift, 1996. "Financial Exclusion and the Shifting Boundaries of the Financial System," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 28(7), pages 1150-1156, July.
    3. Georgina M Gómez, 2010. "What was the Deal for the Participants of the Argentine Local Currency Systems, the Redes de Trueque?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(7), pages 1669-1685, July.
    4. Gill Seyfang, 2001. "Community Currencies: Small Change for a Green Economy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(6), pages 975-996, June.
    5. Ethel Crowley, 2005. "Local Exchange Trading Systems: Globalising Rural Communities," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp037, IIIS.
    6. Ed Collom, 2005. "Community Currency in the United States: The Social Environments in Which it Emerges and Survives," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(9), pages 1565-1587, September.
    7. Powell, J., 2002. "Petty capitalism, perfecting capitalism or post-capitalism? : lessons from the Argentinian barter network," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19101, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    8. Gill Seyfang, 2001. "Working for the Fenland Dollar: An Evaluation of Local Exchange Trading Schemes as an Informal Employment Strategy to Tackle Social Exclusion," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(3), pages 581-593, September.
    9. Peter North, 2000. "Is There Space for Organisation from Below within the UK Government's Action Zones? A Test of 'Collaborative Planning'," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 37(8), pages 1261-1278, July.
    10. Peter North, 1998. "LETS, “Hours†and the Swiss “Business Ring†"," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 13(2), pages 114-132, August.
    11. Martin Buttle, 2008. "Diverse Economies and the Negotiations and Practices of Ethical Finance: The Case of Charity Bank," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(9), pages 2097-2113, September.
    12. Colin C. Williams, 2004. "‘Cash-In-Hand Work: Unravelling Informal Employment from the Moral Economy of Favours’," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 9(1), pages 34-45, February.
    13. Junxi Qian & Yun Ma & Xueqiong Tang, 2024. "In the frontier zone of market transition: Economic possibilities across the market/non-market divide," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(6), pages 1710-1730, September.
    14. Colin C. Williams, 2006. "Beyond Market‐Oriented Readings of Paid Informal Work," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 383-406, April.
    15. Michael Pacione, 1997. "Local Exchange Trading Systems as a Response to the Globalisation of Capitalism," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 34(8), pages 1179-1199, July.
    16. Alexandra Lenis Escobar & Ramón Rueda López & Jorge E. García Guerrero & Enrique Salinas Cuadrado, 2020. "Design of Strategies for the Implementation and Management of a Complementary Monetary System Using the SWOT-AHP Methodology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-23, August.
    17. Theresa Aldridge & Jane Tooke & Roger Lee & Andrew Leyshon & Nigel Thrift & Colin Williams, 2001. "Recasting Work: The Example of Local Exchange Trading Schemes," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 15(3), pages 565-579, September.
    18. Degens, Philipp, 2013. "Alternative Geldkonzepte - ein Literaturbericht," MPIfG Discussion Paper 13/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    19. Paul Chatterton & David Bradley, 2000. "Bringing Britain Together?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 15(2), pages 98-111, July.
    20. Fraňková, Eva & Fousek, Jan & Kala, Lukáš & Labohý, Jan, 2014. "Transaction network analysis for studying Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS): Research potentials and limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 266-275.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:31:y:1999:i:9:p:1639-1653. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.