Local exchange trading systems greece

Local Exchange Trading Systems.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) also known as LETSystems are local, non-profit exchange networks in which goods and services can be traded without the need for printed currency. In some places, e. g. Toronto, the scheme has been called the Local Employment and Trading System.

Michael Linton originated the term "Local Exchange Trading System" in 1983 and, for a time ran the Comox Valley LETSystems in Courtenay, British Columbia. [ 1 ] The system he designed was intended as an adjunct to the national currency, rather than a replacement for it, [ 2 ] although there are examples of individuals who have managed to replace their use of national currency through inventive usage of LETS. [ citation needed ]

LETS networks use interest-free local credit so direct swaps do not need to be made. For instance, a member may earn credit by doing childcare for one person and spend it later on carpentry with another person in the same network. In LETS, unlike other local currencies, no scrip is issued, but rather transactions are recorded in a central location open to all members. As credit is issued by the network members, for the benefit of the members themselves, LETS are considered mutual credit systems.

[edit] Criteria.

LETS are generally considered to have the following five fundamental criteria: [ 2 ]

Cost of service — from the community for the community Consent — there is no compulsion to trade Disclosure — information about balances is available to all members Equivalence to the national currency No interest.

Of these criteria, "equivalence" is the most controversial. According to a 1996 survey by LetsLink UK, only 13% of LETS networks actually practice equivalence, with most groups establishing alternate systems of valuation "in order to divorce [themselves] entirely from the mainstream economy." [ 3 ] [ 4 ] Michael Linton has stated that such systems are "personal money" networks rather than LETS. [ 5 ]

[edit] How LETS works.

Local people set up an organisation to trade between themselves, keeping their own record of accounts. A directory of members' offers and requests—goods, services or items for hire, priced in local LETS units—is compiled and circulated. Members use the directory to contact one another whenever they wish. They pay for any service or goods by writing a LETS cheque or credit note for an agreed amount of LETS units, or by exchanging printed LETS notes. If applicable, the credit note is sent to the LETS bookkeeper who adjusts both members' accounts accordingly.

Since its commencement over 20 years ago, LETSystems have been highly innovative in adapting to the needs of their local communities in all kinds of ways. For example in Australia, people have built houses using LETS in place of a bank mortgage, freeing the owner from onerous interest payments. [ citation needed ]

LETS is a fully fledged "monetary system", unlike direct barter, with LETS members able to earn credits from any member and spend them with anyone else on the scheme.

[edit] LETS and taxation.

LETS is not a scheme for avoiding the payment of taxation, and generally groups encourage all members to personally undertake their liabilities to the state for all taxation, including income tax and goods and services tax. In a number of countries, various government taxation authorities have examined LETS along with other forms of counter trade, and made rulings concerning their use. Generally for personal arrangements, social arrangements, hobbies or pass-times, there are no taxation implications. This generally covers the vast majority of LETS transactions. Taxation liabilities accrue when a tradesperson or professional person provides his or her professional services in payment for LETS units, or a registered or incorporated business sells part of its product for LETS units. In such cases, the businesses are generally encouraged to sell the service or product partly for LETS units and partly in the national currency, to allow the payment of all required taxation. This does imply, however, that in situations where national-currency expenditures would be tax-deductible, LETS must be as well.

[edit] LETS and Social Security.

In a number of countries, LETSystems have been encouraged as a social security initiative. For example in Australia, Peter Baldwin, a former Minister of Social Security in the Keating government, encouraged LETSystems as a way of letting welfare recipients borrow against their welfare entitlement for urgent personal needs or to establish themselves in business. [ citation needed ]

[edit] Benefits of LETS.

LETS can help revitalise and build community by allowing a wider cross-section of the community—individuals, small businesses, local services and voluntary groups—to save money and resources in cooperation with others and extend their purchasing power. Other benefits may include social contact, health care, tuition and training, support for local enterprise and new businesses. One goal of this approach is to stimulate the economies of economically depressed towns that have goods and services, but little official currency: the LETS scheme does not require outside sources of income as stimulus.

[edit] Criticism of LETS.

LETSystems often have all of the problems confronting any voluntary, not-for-profit, non governmental, community based organisation. LETS organisers often complain of being overworked, and may suffer burnout. Many schemes have ceased operation as a result. [ 6 ] Many of these problems can be overcome through effective community organization and development. [ citation needed ]

LETSystems, whilst generally appealing to people supporting a general communitarian or environmental ideology, have in many places [ citation needed ] managed to successfully translate themselves as social welfare initiatives. There are far fewer systems that have managed to communicate and translate themselves into a local business initiative catering to locally owned small to medium businesses. This is generally considered to be an unfortunate weakness of LETSystems to date by the initiators, as they feel that LETS potentially has the capacity to allow small business to compete on a level playing field with larger national and transnational business corporations.

A number of people have problems adjusting to the different ways of operating using a LETSystem. A conventional national currency, is generally hard to earn but easy to spend. To date LETSystems are comparatively easy to earn but harder to spend. The success of a LETSystem is therefore determined by the ease with which a person can spend their LETS credits, and improve their quality of life by participation. Placing difficult arrangements or unreasonable service fees in the way of LETS members will produce difficulties in the future.

[edit] LETS around the world.

Local exchange trading systems now exist in many countries. Some examples include the following:

[edit] Africa.

In 2003 the SANE community Exchange System (CES) started operating an internet-based LETS in Cape Town, South Africa. In the meantime there are several such systems operating in different regions in South Africa, and the CES network is being used by LETS in several countries, among them New Zealand, Australia, Israel, USA, Norway, etc..

In Japan, the Peanuts system in Chiba, near Tokyo. Approximately ten percent of all payments made at local stores are in the community currency (2002). The LETS movement saw its peak around 2002-2003, but since then it has been declining slowly [ citation needed ] .

South Korea has some active LETS too, such as Hanbat LETS in Daejeon and Gwacheon Pumasi in Gwacheon.

[edit] Europe.

In the United Kingdom, an estimated 40,000 people are now trading in around 450 LETS networks in cities, towns and rural communities across the UK. [ 7 ] LETS currencies have their own local names, for example:

In France, a consortium of social economy financial institutions including CrГ©dit CoopГ©ratif and the mutuals MACIF and MAI have joined with the ChГЁque DГ©jeuner co-operative to launch an alternative currency called the SOL , which will be held on a smart card. The Sol will be piloted in the Ile de France, Britanny and Nord-Pas de Calais regions as part of an EQUAL development partnership in 2005-2006. (Le site des Lets (SEL de France) SELidaire).

Germany has established a number of local currency "Talent" systems using LETS Principles. Germany is hosting an International Conference in Monetary Regionalisation from the 28 September to the 1st October 2006 in Weimar.

In Hungary the term used is "Community Service System" (KÖR). One group from the capital city is Talentum Kör (Gold Talent Group), a British Council-supported project.

The Netherlands has spawned a number of innovative concepts based on the LETS formula, some of which try to lower participation barriers by completely moving their exchange platforms online, like NOPPES and Ruildienst.

In Switzerland, the WIR Bank operates a system close to a LETS.

[edit] North America.

The original LETS, the Comox Valley LETSystem developed by Michael Linton in 1982, is now dormant, however there are plans to revive it. The second LETSystem in Canada was the Victoria LETS, established in 1983. [ 8 ] LETS have been established in several Canadian cities, including Kitchener-Waterloo, Niagara, and Peterborough in Ontario, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. John's Newfoundland. [ 9 ] Although less common than local paper currencies, several LETS have taken root in the United States. These systems include Asheville LETS in Western North Carolina, [ 10 ] The St. Louis Community Exchange in the Midwest [ 11 ] and Fourth Corner Exchange in the Pacific Northwest. [ 12 ]

[edit] Oceania.

The Psychologist Jill Jordan started the first Australian LETSystem in the town of Maleny, Queensland in 1987, after visiting Michael Linton in Canada to observe the LETSystem functioning in Courtenay, British Columbia. Jill also pioneered the idea of naming local currencies after icons of local importance: in Maleny their currency is the bunya, named after the local nut of the bunya pine. By 1995 there were 250 LETSystems in Australia, with Western Australia having 43 separate systems serving a population of 1.5 million (although actual participation is by only a tiny fraction of that population) [ citation needed ] , making it the region with the highest LETS coverage in the world. South Australia also pioneered an "InterLETS" allowing members of one system to trade with members of other systems. Data on more Australian sites can be found at lets. org. au.

As of the mid 1990s there were approximately 70 "Green Dollar Systems" in New Zealand. A National Conference of Systems was a means of supporting new groups through the various developmental stages.

[edit] South America.

Since beginning in 2000, there are now 140 Ecosimia-Groups in Ecuador.

[edit] UNILETS.

Various approaches are being proposed to link Local Exchange Trading Systems. UNILETS (United Nations International Local Employment-Trading System) has been developed as a mechanism for linking LETS in communities around the world. The Ripple monetary system has been proposed as a virtual system to connect the diverse LETS systems. The connection between UNILETS and the United Nations is unclear. [ citation needed ]

[edit] Variants.

LETS are characterized by a high level of innovation and many new networks choose to experiment with the system's mechanics.

On September 21, 2000, Richmond Valley LETS, Nimbin LETS and BMT LETS (Byron Bay, Mullumbimby and the Tweed Valley) in Australia cooperatively launched a "hybrid" system which incorporated a supporting paper currency. This optional scrip, called "Ecos", was developed "with the aim of broadening the range of goods and services on offer through LETS." [ 13 ]

[edit] See also.

[edit] References.

^ "What is LETS?". AshevilleLETS. Retrieved on: December 9, 2008. ^ a b Linton, Michael (August, 1994). The LETSystem Design Manual. Landsman Community Services Paper No. 1.3 Version No 1.3 ^ Croall, Jonathan (1997). LETS Act Locally . Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. ISBN 0-903319-81-0.   ^ Lang, Peter (1994). LETS Work: Rebuilding the Local Economy . Grover Books. ISBN 1-899233-00-8.   ^ Ibid. ^ 2003 Update on the Westport LETS , by Richard Douthwaite ^ LETSLink UK ^ Victoria LETS ^ LETS groups in Canada - LETS-Linkup ^ Asheville LETS ^ The St. Louis Community Exchange ^ Forth Corner Exchange ^ Paper Currency Initiative.

[edit] External links.

Commnity Forge offer LETS enabled web sites for communities LETS FAQs, by John Croft of the Gaia Foundation The LETSystem Design Manual, by Landsman Community Services LetsGroups - Internet Tool system to manage common tasks in LETS groups LETS Groups around the world LETSlink UK The Open Money Project Value for People, The Community Currency, Time Banking and Coproduction Specialists.

[edit] Open source software.

The following web site software handles offer/want directories transactions and accounting.

Cyclos Web based complementary currency system build on Java technologies Marketplace module for Drupal Social Networking software for community currencies Fourth Corner Exchange Trading network and php/mySQL application for LETS Cclite Trading system written with Perl/Mysql for LETS, Web and SMS Interface.

Greece: Alternative Economies & Community Currencies Pt. 1.

First of a three part series, Niko Georgiades takes on a journey through Greece’s post-capitalist alt. economy. Originally published in Unicorn Riot Ninja.

Niko Georgiades: Athens, Greece – While capitalism and consumerism dominate the culture of the United States of America and the Western world, community currencies are creating a buzz elsewhere. The radical need for alternative economies and community currencies is becoming more commonplace among societies across the globalized world dealing with the crisis of mass poverty and inequality. In part one of our three part series shining a light on some of these alternatives, we look at the Athens Integral Cooperative.

In the summer of 2017, the self-organized squat of Embros Theater hosted a speaking engagement discussing community currencies and alternative economies. After the discussion, we interviewed Theodore from the Athens Integral Cooperative (AIC) inside a social center in Exarcheia (Athens, Greece) about the parallel economy they are creating. Theodore gave a run down of what AIC is, the importance of it, as well as its struggles and how it modeled itself after Catalan Integral Cooperative (see our special on the Catalan Integral Cooperative).

“ We are building a substantial, alternative, and autonomous economy. ” – Theodore of the Athens Integral Cooperative.

WHAT ARE COMMUNITY CURRENCIES & ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIES?

Community currencies are types of complimentary currencies shared within a community that are utilized as a means of countering inequality, class, debt, accumulation, and exclusion. Alternative economies are typically separate economic structures operating outside of the traditional economy and based on the common principles of a community.

Aggressive neoliberal policies have created a vicious cycle of austerity in Greece for the last seven years. Many people living in Greece, even today, experience a lack of dignity, unable to gain access to employment, housing, education, healthcare, and having to deal with pension and salary cuts.

In 2011, as the crisis was beginning to deeply impact public life, a ‘movement of the squares‘ swept through Greece, modeled after the indignados in Spain and the Tahrir Square Uprising in Egypt. Thousands took the public commons, occupying Syntagma Square across from the Greek Parliament in central Athens. Through direct democracy, they imagined a future without capitalism; this movement eventually made its way across the Atlantic Ocean to the USA in the form of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

These movements in Spain and Greece birthed political parties, Podemos and Syriza respectively, that have each taken power, and yet the effects of the crisis continue and evolve with no end in sight. We sat down with Theodore to talk about capitalism, the crisis, and the alternatives that have taken form to provide a sustainable living.

Theodore told us that a lot of people lost their jobs when the crisis first hit and that the banks imposed austerity measures and “ social rules that were unbearable. ”

“ We tried to continue with our lives by building autonomous movements and trying to live by ourselves. This was a necessity during this seven years of our financial crisis where people [started] to create social groups and movements in order to cope with the diminishing structure of society, both economical and social. ” – Theodore.

Autonomous networks, mostly created by self-organized assemblies of anarchists, anti-authoritarians, autonomous groups and individuals, are a counter-force to the social services that the State either never provided, or stopped providing for the people due to the crisis. As Theodore stated, these networks are needed to gain the basic fundamentals of life.

Self-organized forms of resistance to capitalism and ways of implementing mutual aid to those in need are producing experiences that advance the prospects of the ability to live in an equal society, devoid of poverty.

Among the networks of resistance throughout Athens there are at least an estimated 1,000 assemblies with over 5,000 people participating in them. These assemblies are akin to horizontally organized working groups, each working towards a branch of fulfilling the needs of a community, or society, like; healthcare (see video below), housing, food, organizing space and even alternative economies that push to instill a non-consumer based economy.

ATHENS INTEGRAL COOPERATIVE.

Self-organized through direct democracy, Athens Integral Cooperative operates through an assembly that makes collective decisions based on consensus. The Athens Integral Cooperative (AIC) was inspired by the Integral networks of Spain, which Theodore says are “ similar movements, cooperatives, and individuals who have managed to integrate their activities to a bigger network that could actually produce economy of livelihood. ”

“ From 2015 to now, we established an infrastructure for our network that is premises that we can do the exchanges and a platform that we can work the exchanges out. ” – Theodore.

In describing the ideas behind the alternative economy of AIC, Theodore said that “ time banks ” were “ the first step in the social economy “. Time banks are “ not money that you can claim from someone ” and it isn’t debt; it is peer-to-peer exchanges, or services, that are valued by the hour. The hour is not exact, but is a tool by which to measure productivity.

“ It [time banking] has this very good social effect of making people understand they can exchange their production. ” – Theodore.

The “ social economy ” is a facet of networks of cooperatives, individuals, organizations, and more, which have created institutions and policies prioritizing the social good over profits. The infrastructure built within a social economy is based on the common values or principles of the community(s) that are in participation with the social economy.

Theodore said that AIC works to integrate “ individuals, collectives, and social forces, that already make a social economy ” into a substantial economy. In the Integral network, there is “ no such thing as debt or accumulation. ”

Theodore of the Athens Integral Cooperative.

Exchanges through the network are done with a self-institutionalized monetary unit through a digital platform using the LETS network (Local Exchange Trading System), using the free software of Community Forge. The alternative currency holds value only within collective working groups and cannot be exchanged outside of the network.

The goals for the “ solidarity economy ” of the Athens Integral Cooperative are clearly stated on their website as follows:

Horizontal organization, with participation in general meetings, collective decision making and solution finding Coverage of basic needs and desires rather than consumerism focusing on self-sufficiency Jointly defining a fair price/work ratio on products and services Producing quality goods and services while minimizing our energy and ecological footprint Reciprocity in relations beyond the logic of profit and “free market” monopolies Monetary autonomy within the network using a local self-institutionalized monetary unit (LETS network) The foundation of and support for productive projects Cooperative education, direct democracy and ecological awareness.

“ People are always interested in finding a way of escaping the present situation. ” – Theodore.

AIC has at least 100 participants and around 30 people providing production in the substantial economy. Compared to the eco-networks of the model Integral societies in Spain, this is small, but as Theodore said, the necessary transformation into an alternative economy “ takes time ” especially in an urban environment. He furthered that people can’t rapidly “ evolve to another system ” without understanding the culture of it.

As Theodore says, education is key. One of the first goals of the AIC is educating and inspiring the community to become self-managed and autonomous within the networks. They are working on making their community full of producers, not simply consumers. They are re-learning the value of the exchange, of their production, and of their productive value.

Theodore stated that things would have progressed much more if, during the time that the crisis was hitting, people knew what they now know.

“ The interest of the people was huge, I mean, hundreds of people were gathering in assemblies, trying to find a way out. But, we didn’t have the knowledge then. ” – Theodore.

This said, Theodore was still very optimistic. Theodore participates in the assembly of the Alliance of the Commons, which he states is “ another step of the gathering of social forces .” The Alliance of the Commons is important, Theodore said, because in order to have a “ community that is self-managed, we have to have a political basis. ”

“T hey bring the Commons as a political issue, as a political subject. So far, the alternative economy didn’t have the political direction … it was useful only for taking the pressure off the people. ” – Theodore.

Athens Integral Cooperative is pursuing a cultural revolution to transform the culture of consumerism and valuing one’s life in fiat currency, like the Euro or Dollar, into a culture of “ autonomous exchange and autonomous productivity, ” said Theodore, who continued by saying AIC was “ doing a very good job at it. ”

Stay tuned with Unicorn Riot for more on alternatives to capitalism, as we have two more specials on community currencies coming out in the next couple of weeks.

Niko Georgiades is a photo-journalist member of the volunteer-operated independent media collective Unicorn Riot.

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How Should Communities Cope with the End of Coal? Advice from the Frontlines.

How does a Multistakeholder Co-op Work?

Kenya’s Sarafu-Credit: Alternative Economies & Community Currencies Pt. 2.

George Monbiot on the Commons.

Greece: Alternative Economies & Community Currencies Pt. 3 – FairCoop.

Why Branko Milanovic is Wrong about De-Growth.

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Greece: Alternative Economies & Community Currencies Pt. 3 – FairCoop.

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Local exchange trading system.

A local exchange trading system (also local employment and trading system or local energy transfer system ; abbreviated to LETS or LETSystem ) is a locally initiated, democratically organised, not-for-profit community enterprise that provides a community information service and records transactions of members exchanging goods and services by using the currency of locally created LETS Credits. [1]

Michael Linton originated the term "Local Exchange Trading System" in 1983 and for a time ran the Comox Valley LETSystems in Courtenay, British Columbia. [2] The system he designed was intended as an adjunct to the national currency, rather than a replacement for it, [3]

LETS networks facilitate exchange between members by providing a directory of offers (and wants) and by allowing each a line of interest-free credit to each. Members' IOUs are logged in a centralised accounting system which publishes a directory and balances visible to all members. In case of a default, the loss of value or units is absorbed equally by all members, which makes it a mutual credit exchange. For instance, a member may earn credit by doing childcare for one person and spend it later on carpentry with another person in the same network, or they may spend first and earn later.

The time-based currency mentioned in United Nations Millennium Declaration C6 to Governments was a UNILETS United Nations International & Local Employment-Trading System to restructure the global financial architecture. [ citation needed ]

Many people have difficulty adjusting to this different kind of money system. A conventional national currency which yields interest to savers and costs interest to borrowers incentivises different behaviours to mutual credit which has no commodity value and no interest.

Most groups range from 50-150 members with a small core who use the system as a way of life. After flourishing the in 1990s, the LETS movement is mostly now populated by the same aging people. Interest in local currency has moved on to other designs such as Time-based currency and dollar-backed local voucher schemes.

On the whole, the movement has been slow to adapt to the internet and to the possibility of networking together. Reluctance to engage with technology, a belief in decentralisation/localisation and lack of funds all contributed to this. Currently, apart from flailing national organisations, there are two LETS networks based on free software: Community Exchange Systems, and Community Forge.

LETS are generally considered to have the following five fundamental criteria: [3]

Cost of service: from the community for the community Consent: there is no compulsion to trade Disclosure: information about balances is available to all members Equivalence to the national currency No interest.

Of these criteria, "equivalence" is the most controversial. According to a 1996 survey by LetsLink UK, only 13% of LETS networks actually practice equivalence, with most groups establishing alternate systems of valuation "in order to divorce [themselves] entirely from the mainstream economy." [4] [5] Michael Linton has stated that such systems are "personal money" networks rather than LETS. [3]

The first LETS required nothing more than a telephone, an answering machine and a notebook. [6] Since then there have been several attempts to improve the process with software, printed notes, and other familiar aspects of traditional currencies.

Local people set up an organization to trade between themselves, often paying a small membership fee to cover administration costs Members maintain a directory of offers and wants to help facilitate trades Upon trading, members may 'pay' each other with printed notes, log the transaction in log books or online, or write cheques which are later cleared by the system accountant. Members whose balances exceed specified limits (positive or negative) are obliged to move their balance back towards zero by spending or earning.

LETS is a full-fledged monetary or exchange system, unlike direct barter. LETS members are able to earn credits from any member and spend them with anyone else on the scheme. Since the details are worked out by the users, there is much variation between schemes.

LETS is not a scheme for avoiding the payment of taxation, and generally groups encourage all members to personally undertake their liabilities to the state for all taxation, including income tax and goods and services tax. In a number of countries, various government taxation authorities have examined LETS along with other forms of counter trade, and made rulings concerning their use. [ citation needed ] Generally for personal arrangements, social arrangements, hobbies or pastimes, there are no taxation implications. This generally covers the vast majority of LETS transactions. [ disputed – discuss ] Taxation liabilities accrue when a tradesperson or professional person provides his or her professional services in payment for LETS units, or a registered or incorporated business sells part of its product for LETS units. In such cases, the businesses are generally encouraged to sell the service or product partly for LETS units and partly in the national currency, to allow the payment of all required taxation. This does imply, however, that in situations where national-currency expenditures would be tax-deductible, LETS must be as well.

In a number of countries, LETSystems have been encouraged as a social security initiative. For example, in Australia, Peter Baldwin, a former Minister of Social Security in the Keating government, encouraged LETSystems as a way of letting welfare recipients borrow against their welfare entitlement for urgent personal needs or to establish themselves in business. [ citation needed ]

Since its commencement over 20 years ago, LETSystems have been highly innovative in adapting to the needs of their local communities in all kinds of ways. For example, in Australia, people have built houses using LETS in place of a bank mortgage, freeing the owner from onerous interest payments. [ citation needed ]

LETS can help revitalise and build community by allowing a wider cross-section of the community—individuals, small businesses, local services and voluntary groups—to save money and resources in cooperation with others and extend their purchasing power. Other benefits may include social contact, health care, tuition and training, support for local enterprise and new businesses. One goal of this approach is to stimulate the economies of economically depressed towns that have goods and services, but little official currency: the LETS scheme does not require outside sources of income as stimulus.

' Local exchange trading systems now exist in many countries. Currency exchange between countries is done automatically through the CES (Community Exchange Systems) if LETS members use the CES for their recorded transaction. On the CES such trading exchanges between countries are known as 'remote' trading.

Australia, in 1989 allocated $50,000 for the development of LETSystems, including the running of state conferences, the production of software, a LETSystems Training Pack, and assistance to Michael Linton to visit Western Australia. By 1995 there were 250 LETSystems in Australia, with Western Australia having 43 separate systems serving a population of 2.3 million (although actual participation is by only a tiny fraction of that population) [1] making it then the region with the highest LETS coverage in the world. South Australia also pioneered an "InterLETS" allowing members of one system to trade with members of other systems.

From around 2007, many Australian LETS groups started trading online using the Community Exchange System. The Community Exchange System allows new members to sign up directly, list offers and wants, and enter trades without assistance from the administrator.

By 2011 Australia had become the most active country on the Community Exchange System, prompting Tim Jenkin and Annette Loudon to set up the Australian Community Exchange System [7]

North America.

Several Canadian cities have LETS groups, including Kitchener-Waterloo, Niagara, and Peterborough in Ontario; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and St. John's, Newfoundland.

Ithaca, New York has been running its Ithaca Hours program since 1991.

South America.

Ecuador had 140 Ecosimia-Groups (in 2000).

In Venezuela there are around a dozen LETS (as of 2011), with support from the national government. [8]

French speaking Europe has a coherent SEL ( Système d'Échange Local , local exchange system) network.

In German speaking Europe there are lots of local "Tauschring", or "Tauschkreis" (exchange circles) networks which share all sorts of services. The Tauschring network in Germany provides software for most schemes in the German-speaking world, and CES now has over 250 participating associations, able to trade between each other with a process sometimes called intertrading. [ citation needed ]

In Hungary the term used is "Community Service System" (KÖR). One group from the capital city is Talentum Kör (Gold Talent Group), a British Council-supported project.

LETS schemes have been proposed as a possible way to alleviate some of the human costs of the euro crisis in Greece, where high foreign debt repayments have resulted in rapid deflation of the economy. LETS schemes, it is proposed, could reinflate the internal Greek economy, allowing internal trade to be maintained even if internationally traded currency reserves are being drained for debt repayment. [9] This theory is beginning to be tested in the development of new LETS schemes in Greek cities such as Volos. [10]

In the Czech Republic, used to be a cyclos-server based in the city of Brno. It supposedly provides hosting and technical support for LETS communities and LETS Banking software-as-a-service. The original web site address was ATSGroup. cz/cyclos.

The Netherlands has spawned a number of innovative concepts based on the LETS formula, some of which try to lower participation barriers by completely moving their exchange platforms online, like NOPPES.

In Switzerland an adaption of LETS, the Talent was established and quite successfully launched in 1992. This Talent spread out in Europe and was father of many other Talent-Groups in other countries, as mentioned above. Like in Germany there are Tauschkreise mostly operating with Cyclos Software. Also an on-line exchange platform called Easyswap was developed recently.

The United Kingdom has many LETS systems, many loosely affiliated to LETSLINK UK and some operating under the CES system, e. g. North London LETS. In the UK Skillsbox operates an online community system similar to LETS, letting users trade their skills and time for credits which can be spent within the online community.

Norway has more LETS system, One of which is LETS NORGE. Lets. no.

In Japan, the Peanuts system is a LETS system in Chiba, near Tokyo. Approximately ten percent of all payments made at local stores are in the community currency (2002). The LETS movement saw its peak around 2002–2003, but since then it has been declining slowly [ citation needed ] . See also Fureai kippu.

South Korea has some active LETS too, such as Hanbat LETS in Daejeon and Gwacheon Pumasi in Gwacheon.

In 2003 the Community Exchange System (CES) started operating an internet-based LETS in Cape Town, South Africa. This has grown into a global network of over 800 local exchange systems in more than seventy countries (2014), among them Australia, Finland, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Spain, USA, UK, Vanuatu etc. Many of these are former LETS groups but others are time banks and hybrids.

LETS - Local Exchange Trading Systems.

Benefits of the LETS model:

No central authority is required to guarantee the currency and manage its supply: LETS is backed by goods and services, and is created as mutual credit (like ROCS and Time Dollars).

Given that there is no interest on LETS currency, the built-in incentive to discount the future found in national currencies is reduced, but not reversed.

How LETS credits are issued:

When too much money is issued, the local currency will inflate or even become completely worthless; when currency is underissued, the problem local currency was meant to address--too little trade among people in the community--will remain. So it is not a trivial task for anybody or any group to guess the correct quantity of money to issue, because that ideal quantity will continuously vary according to the rate of acceptance of the local currency, which will change over time; and the overall state of the local economy (including the conditions of the economy in the "normal" national currency), which will also change over time).

Mutual credit solves both these problems in a self-organized way.

LETSystems measure Green Dollars in the corresponding national currency unit.

LETS exchanges are negotiable.

Structural incentives in LETSystems:

Complementary currencies, because they do not bear interest (which discounts future earnings in relation to present cash),

promote longer-term planning by encouraging participants to invest in productive assets rather than hoarding currency; and.

encourage trade and cooperation, because the money is in sufficient supply.

Those complementary currencies backed by an external reference (a commodity or service) rather than the fiat of a central authority are less susceptible to inflation.

Applications of the LETS model:

Related Resources.

Also on the Transaction Net site:

WALLETS maintains information about the LETSystems in Western Australia.

The home page of John Turmel, a unique and prolific advocate of LETS.

with the message 'join econ-lets (your name)'

To remove yourself from the list send mail to: mailbasemailbase. ac. uk.

with the message 'leave econ-lets (your name)'

The Transaction Net site is an independent, open forum where anyone and everyone can explore new economic media, so if you know of another site that deserves attention, please let us know. You're also invited to register and join us over in The Money Conference.

The Money Conference.

Join us in The Money Conference, where we're gathering to compare insights on all kinds of money systems--old, new, high - and low-tech, real or theoretical--and to synthesize from our shared experience wiser and more efficient models of exchange media. Sign up for Motet conferencing, then come on in and introduce yourself, or jump right to our LETS conversation.