Abstract
The use of just one currency within a vast geographical area is a relatively recent historical development, related to the formation of nation-states. However, money proliferation continues: over the last thirty years 4500 complementary currency systems, community credit and alternative financial systems have come into being. This chapter gives an overview of the phenomena followed by the presentation of the currency forerunners of Sardex: medieval currencies, the Austrian Wörgl, and the Swiss Wir, the last two were developed during the great recession of the 1930’. Then, the Sardex complementary currency is presented in detail. The project was developed in 2009 by five young Sardinian friends with an innovative vision of economic functioning and its members and transactions have increased every year since then. Sardex has been replicated in eleven other regions and similar projects have been started in other countries. Its innovative characters include interest-free money and mutual credit, a members’ network and a broker service with strategies for increasing transactions.
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Notes
- 1.
Over the years specific studies have evaluated the effects of these complementary currencies. The bibliography on complementary currencies prepared by Schroeder et al. (2011) includes 76 publications dedicated to “impact assessment”: these represent 18.7% of all the titles published in English (Place and Bindewald 2015).
- 2.
For the different functions of money, including a comparison of Bitcoin and Sardex, see Sect. 5.2 The Social Functioning of Money.
- 3.
Such use of an abstract unit of account as an exchange medium dates back to Babilonian times (Ingham 2004, p. 110).
- 4.
Estimated to be 12/14 times the circulation of ordinary shillings, see Lietaer 2013, p. 153–155.
- 5.
Keynes defined this situation as a “liquidity trap” (2007 [1936]).
- 6.
For an explanation of how complementarity works see Sect. 3.4 Sardex at Work.
- 7.
For an analysis of the mechanisms at work here see Chap. 4.
- 8.
Sardex Ltd has no contractual obligation to respond jointly in the event of member businesses being declared bankrupt and their creditors losing the credit owed to them. Interviews with Sardex members, though, have brought to light a case where a member company was declared bankrupt and Sardex Ltd paid off the debts this company had contracted in Sardex with other companies. Members see this decision as an indicator of the trustworthiness and reliability of the Sardex project and its management.
- 9.
Employees of member companies can receive part of their salaries in Sardex (b2e), subject to agreements with the companies involved, and a new experiment allows customers of member companies to use Sardex (b2c).
- 10.
Although there are no direct costs or interest payments associated with Sardex credit, the annual membership fee that companies pay to remain in the network and use this credit needs to be discounted.
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Bazzani, G. (2020). The Sardex Experience. In: When Money Changes Society. Wirtschaft + Gesellschaft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28533-3_3
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