7. Local Currency and Regional Revitalization

Since the early 1980s a number of different designs for local currency system have been experimented with in the world. Some were quite successful in that a large number of people participated and some designated targets were fulfilled as a result of active exchanges of goods and services. At the same time, another large number of groups had tried, failed, and disappeared. Funding is one of the quite serious problems for many organizations. How to procure the necessary funding has not been an easy problem to solve. Who takes the initiatives in organizing the system, and for how long a period the organization should exist, are other really important issues that deserve serious consideration. It is worth while to point out some of the basic issues for successful local currency practices that can be observed from past experiences. The first point is about government involvement. It can be said that public administration should not be directly involved in local currency because this is based on initiatives and activities of private citizens. Public administration either local or national should play a supportive role if asked. The second point is to make the major purpose of the system clear from the beginning. In order to have the system of local currency run well for certain long periods of time, a clearly defined purpose and easy-to-see targets are vitally important. Not only should embracing the purpose and target be clear but communicating and widely disseminating them among the members is one of the key elements for a well-run organization. The third and final point is that it is important to realize among the participants that nothing comes automatically without spending lots of time and sweats by the people. Local currency mechanism is a system in which citizen’s initiative and active participation are essentially important. Also important is the recognition of the fact that local currency is not a panacea for social ill or market failure, though it is an effort on the side of people to make the community in which they live more enjoyable to live together than today’s globalized, isolated, and cold-hearted market economy.