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Transforming or reproducing an unequal economy? : Solidarity and inequality in a community currency

Barinaga, Ester LU orcid (2019) In International Journal of Community Currency Research 23(2). p.2-16
Abstract
Building on empirical material from 6 months ethnographically inspired fieldwork in Málaga Común, a mutual credit community currency in Southern Spain, the paper uses Ostrom’s (1991) theoretical framework on common-pool resources to look deeper into the provision and appropriation dynamics in the currency scheme. Particular attention is put into the sources of inequality in members’ provision and appropriation capacities. Findings suggest that, embedded as community currencies are in the conventional economy, the sources of inequality from the conventional economy are also brought into the community currency. More particularly, private ownership and specialised complex skills lie behind members’ unequal capacity to earn community currency... (More)
Building on empirical material from 6 months ethnographically inspired fieldwork in Málaga Común, a mutual credit community currency in Southern Spain, the paper uses Ostrom’s (1991) theoretical framework on common-pool resources to look deeper into the provision and appropriation dynamics in the currency scheme. Particular attention is put into the sources of inequality in members’ provision and appropriation capacities. Findings suggest that, embedded as community currencies are in the conventional economy, the sources of inequality from the conventional economy are also brought into the community currency. More particularly, private ownership and specialised complex skills lie behind members’ unequal capacity to earn community currency in relation to their spending needs. The paper ends by outlining some elements that would need attention when designing the governance institutions of community currency schemes that aim to overcome the inequality brought in by these currencies’ embeddedness in the conventional economy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Mutual credit currency, inequality, Ostrom, resource system vs. flow of resource units, provision/appropriation ratio, common-pool resource
in
International Journal of Community Currency Research
volume
23
issue
2
pages
2 - 16
ISSN
1325-9547
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
54f4a18a-5273-4a6f-b374-8248bef30362
alternative location
https://ijccr.net/2019/09/04/transforming-or-reproducing-an-unequal-economy-solidarity-and-inequality-in-a-community-currency/
date added to LUP
2019-09-16 16:03:55
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:47:54
@article{54f4a18a-5273-4a6f-b374-8248bef30362,
  abstract     = {{Building on empirical material from 6 months ethnographically inspired fieldwork in Málaga Común, a mutual credit community currency in Southern Spain, the paper uses Ostrom’s (1991) theoretical framework on common-pool resources to look deeper into the provision and appropriation dynamics in the currency scheme. Particular attention is put into the sources of inequality in members’ provision and appropriation capacities. Findings suggest that, embedded as community currencies are in the conventional economy, the sources of inequality from the conventional economy are also brought into the community currency. More particularly, private ownership and specialised complex skills lie behind members’ unequal capacity to earn community currency in relation to their spending needs. The paper ends by outlining some elements that would need attention when designing the governance institutions of community currency schemes that aim to overcome the inequality brought in by these currencies’ embeddedness in the conventional economy.}},
  author       = {{Barinaga, Ester}},
  issn         = {{1325-9547}},
  keywords     = {{Mutual credit currency; inequality; Ostrom; resource system vs. flow of resource units; provision/appropriation ratio; common-pool resource}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{2--16}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Community Currency Research}},
  title        = {{Transforming or reproducing an unequal economy? : Solidarity and inequality in a community currency}},
  url          = {{https://ijccr.net/2019/09/04/transforming-or-reproducing-an-unequal-economy-solidarity-and-inequality-in-a-community-currency/}},
  volume       = {{23}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}