Re: Ithaca NY (fwd)

[bgirard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bernard Girard)]

It's called Ithaca hours. They have similar systems in England, Australia
and even France (in Ariege, a remote region, the call it "grain de sel",
"sel" meaning salt and "systeme d'echange local"). They call it lets (local
exchange trade system). You description is quite accurate. The
clearinghouse usually uses software.
You can find on the net informations on these (just try "Lets" on Lycos).
It's used in communities where a lot of people are unemployed or half
employed. The promoters of these systems usually insist on their will to
protect the local economy from outside competition.
In these communities, some businesses use this "fake" money as coupons. One
of the problems these communities face when successful is taxes.

>Has anyone heard about a newly emerging system of barter (?) or
>quasi-money (?) in Ithaca NY?  A psych colleague told me about some sort
>of exchange system some guy started in Ithaca.  The story, I am told, was
>reported in the print media a few weeks ago (maybe in the NY Times).  The
>story seems to go something like this (what follows is extremely sketchy,
>reflecting a conversation on the fly with a Gibbsonian psychologist):
>
>        individuals are issued a quantity of scrip (?) from the organizer
>in proportion to a specific quantity of labor of a particular kind (say,
>carpentry) that entitles the holder of this note a claim to that quantity
>of labor.  My friend seemed to suggest that these notes were then being
>exchanged for each other at some clearinghouse.
>
>I realize my description is very sketchy.  Does anyone have any specifics
>on this?  At first blush, it looks like a way unemployed can kind of
>solve their Clower-type constraints.
>
>Bill Butos

Bernard Girard
<bgirard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>