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In Economics, it has not been valorized the practice of euro's successful development in the EU as a case study for creating global paper money. On the assumption that the EU can be perceived as the world on the whole (regarding all dissociations in terms of their differences), it is a fact that the Eurozone countries which had accepted the euro as a single regional currency, in reality, proved that there was a possibility of creating "global" paper money. It would be in accordance with the objective process of dematerialization of commodity money whose functions were integrally performed in the system of a gold standard. The idea of the euro's case study arises from the fact that the Eurozone countries' national currencies have transformed themselves into one currency, whereas the other EU countries retained their national currencies and established rates of exchange in terms of the euro. After a nearly two-decade euro's rise (of course, along with many difficulties), it was created a situation where the euro (the Eurozone single currency) can be observed as an opportunity for creating global paper money. It means that a few more developed countries can also use their currencies to create global paper money (for instance, Global), whereas the other countries in the world can determine their currencies' value in terms of the Global, and they can also struggle to enable themselves (if they intend to join the system of global paper money) to use the benefits of the global market. In this context, the previous problems in relation to the euro's functioning would also present potential problems to the future global paper money. However, many of them can be avoided from the beginning, based on the experience acquired by strengthening the euro's functions. After having abandoned the monetary systems of the gold standard, by fulfilling the idea of creating global paper money on the pattern of the euro in the European Union, there were created conditions for overcoming the problems generated by the national currencies which perform an international role of intensifying the integrative (globalizing) processes in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain for local communities are blockchain-based applications that support the participation of people in the social and economic life of their local community. These applications leverage tokenization to enable socioeconomic processes involving transactions of values where community members take part actively and intentionally. In this field, mechanisms that regulate the functioning of blockchains need to be redirected towards collaborative and social purposes that often differ from the logics on which mainstream cryptocurrencies are based. In order to redesign these mechanisms, sound examination of their system of tokenization and of dynamics of their token economy is required. This paper provides an exploratory review of token economy elements found within cases of blockchain for local community economies, which is an under-explored domain in the relevant literature. The analysis considers 9 projects for systems that incentivize or reward participation, or implement community currency schemes. The dimensions analyzed encompass the type of goals and communities, the blockchains adopted, and token economy design aspects such as: token types, their distribution and incentive mechanisms, the associated platform/wallet functionalities, and the project governance models. We have observed a variety of combinations of these elements being used to facilitate new forms of value circulation. However, there is a tension between the aspiration to introduce transformative systems and the need to ensure the stability of the economic framework. The highly experimental nature of these initiatives requires continuous monitoring of their emergence and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Polish Journal of Management Studies is the property of Czestochowa University of Technology, Faculty of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper focuses on policies to promote the greater use of regional currencies in intra-regional trade and investment. This will reduce the dominance of the U.S. dollar and lessen the region's exposure to U.S. monetary conditions and monetary policy.A key focus in this paper is on policies to help set up efficient currency exchange markets to reduce currency exchange transaction costs. This is fundamental, as high currency exchange spreads between local currencies discourage local currency usage for trade and investment. China's policy to internationalize the RMB and set up offshore direct foreign exchange markets between the RMB and other currencies is also highlighted. Other important issues include the Local Currency Settlement Framework, the Asian Bond Market Initiative, and Asian Bond Funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local and community currencies have been used as a stimulating tool to increase trading activities and social interactions of geographically restricted regions. This paper aims to investigate the potential of innovative regional development of the structurally disadvantaged industrial region focused on the steel and mining industry by means of the local currency. Being the important players of local economies and regional development, SMEs have always been in the center of interest for practitioners of the local and community currencies. Therefore, our research team analyzed and explored major benefits and barriers that SMEs perceive to adopt and use local currency. In parallel with the specified aims, the researchers employed the structured questionnaire survey with open and dichotomous questions focused on SMEs with no practical experience with the acceptance and use od the local or community currencies in Cieszyn Silesia region. The results of our research show that SMEs are prone to be active members of local currency communities, and they positively perceive the support that major regional producers, service providers, and practitioners can provide for them through this instrument. Moreover, some SMEs also perceive local currencies as a marketing and promotion tool that increases product-service quality and mutual transactions of firms. According to the respondents, high participation fees and exchange rates, lack of usage by customers and coverage by national currencies, counterfeiting, and fraud, liquidity risk, taxability, accountability, legislative and technical issues, credibility and trustworthiness of practitioners have been main impediments in the adoption and usage of these currencies by SMEs. This research provides innovative solutions and suggestions for policymakers in case of the regional development of the structurally disadvantaged industrial regions to overcome the barriers of local currencies. Since local currencies can be created in digital formats, the increasing importance of local digital currencies in the Covid-19 pandemic has also been highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To facilitate the introduction of a single currency in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the fiscal convergence criterion currently proposed by countries limits the public deficit to 3 per cent of GDP. According to the literature, the limitation of the public deficit to a given threshold is the most fundamental norm of the various convergence pacts existing and needed for monetary integration. Through a nonlinear panel data model, this paper tests the validity of the threshold by determining the public deficit threshold not to be exceeded so that fiscal policy has a positive effect on economic growth. Over the decade 2007–2016, this threshold is estimated at 4.74 per cent of GDP. Thus, the paper concludes that the proposed convergence criterion of 3 per cent of GDP is pro‐growth. However, in relation to the estimated threshold, there is a room for manoeuvre that can be used for supporting economic growth. Thus, the proposed threshold could be readjusted upward. The analysis also reveals that only four countries in ECOWAS are on the track to respect in the future, the proposed fiscal criterion and therefore are taking an important step toward the adoption of the future currency. The other countries need to make significant fiscal consolidation operations before hoping to adopt the single currency on the basis of fiscal discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spite of varied and sometimes underwhelming results, community currencies (CCs) continue to demonstrate potential for inducing beneficial regional development by means of technological innovation and creditable social outcomes. However, outside of the Western context, much still needs to be understood regarding their operation and management. Long-term durability in particular has been an issue that has been observed with CCs around the world. This paper aims to shed more light on this aspect of CC research from the Japanese perspective by formulating a descriptive framework of long-lived Japanese CCs. In order to accomplish this, 12 Japanese CC organizations that have each operated for at least a decade are investigated using a Grounded Theory approach (GT). The GT methodology was applied to a primary data set of transcribed interviews with CC leaders and organizers. This was supplemented by currency circulation reports, surveys among CC users, and observation of CC activities for the purposes of data triangulation. Leadership Continuity emerged as the core theme uniting these diverse organizations. An exploration of this theme reveals 3 broad operating forms of long-lived Japanese CCs, namely, LETS Passbook Communities, Subsidized Coupon Type CCs, and Non-Subsidized Coupon Type CCs. Additionally, 3 reliable funding strategies and 2 reinforcement factors were observed among the more robust organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the economic support for the creation of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) monetary union encompassing all its 15 members, an objective that was set more than 30 years ago. In line with previous empirical research, our conclusion is that the adoption of a common currency by the whole region is not recommended. This work takes a step forward and assesses alternative ways to reduce the current number of currencies in circulation in the Community. Based on our results, we suggest (i) the merging of the currencies of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone into a single currency and (ii) the Gambia to join the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circulation is the characteristic feature of successful currency systems, from community currencies to cryptocurrencies to national currencies. In this paper, we propose a network analysis approach especially suited for studying circulation given a system's digital transaction records. Sarafu is a digital community currency that was active in Kenya over a period that saw considerable economic disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We represent its circulation as a network of monetary flow among the 40,000 Sarafu users. Network flow analysis reveals that circulation was highly modular, geographically localized, and occurring among users with diverse livelihoods. Across localized sub-populations, network cycle analysis supports the intuitive notion that circulation requires cycles. Moreover, the sub-networks underlying circulation are consistently degree disassortative and we find evidence of preferential attachment. Community-based institutions often take on the role of local hubs, and network centrality measures confirm the importance of early adopters and of women's participation. This work demonstrates that networks of monetary flow enable the study of circulation within currency systems at a striking level of detail, and our findings can be used to inform the development of community currencies in marginalized areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a comprehensive account of the evolution of the currency composition of sovereign and corporate external borrowing by emerging markets from 2003 to 2017. We show that a higher reliance on foreign currency debt by the corporate sector is associated with higher sovereign default risk. We introduce local currency sovereign debt and private sector currency mismatch into a standard sovereign debt model to examine how the currency composition of corporate borrowing affects the sovereign's incentive to inflate or default. A calibration of the model generates the empirical patterns of sovereign credit risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the phenomenon of solidarity cryptocurrencies by combining the societal and communitarian aspects of the traditional community currencies with the the blockchain architecture chosen in a cryptocurrency project. We classify and analyze 20 selected solidarity cryptocurrencies from different countries according to three critical aspects of solidarity cryptocurrencies: scale, territorial scope and price stability. Analysis of these aspects is critical to understand the solidarity cryptocurrency concept that connects the originally separated universes of traditional community currencies and cryptocurrencies. This paper contributes to explain the emergent solidarity cryptocurrencies phenomenon by describing particular types captured by our classification. The main findings about solidarity cryptocurrencies in this study are, first, the alignment between type of governance and the respective architecture platform; second, those with closed governance are more likely to be pegged on fiat currencies or other stable measures; third, those focused on local issues tend to have a higher level of adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community currencies have recently emerged as tools for assisting the disadvantaged. In order to make a contribution to the larger field of community currencies, the purpose of this research is to investigate how a financial institution evaluates community currency lending. We show, using an adverse selection model, the importance of the role of motivated financial institutions in the effectiveness of community currency loans for small entrepreneurs. If those institutions are unmotivated, the market collapses, and only traditional loans are offered. Additionally, if there is enough intrinsic motivation, the size of the loans also increases, which is beneficial to the borrowers. Finally, this paper emphasizes the importance of subsidies in this sector, which act as catalysts by increasing the likelihood that community currency loans will be offered, as well as increasing loan sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of DIGITHUM is the property of Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Community currencies are used to pay for products or services within specific groups defined by geographical boundaries or specific common interests. Financial crises, social emergence in developing countries, and increased access to digital devices have stimulated a growing number of communities worldwide to develop digital currency projects. These projects use technologies ranging from traditional plastic cards to mobile phones and blockchain technologies. Following the design science research approach, this paper analyzes digital community currencies (DCCs) by developing a taxonomy based on platform architecture, governance, transactionality and virtuality. By investigating 22 DCC platforms around the world, 4 groups were distinguished: local, proprietary, commons and cyber. The identification of these four different groups of digital community currencies allows us to better discuss the potentials and limitations of each one of them. The presented taxonomy can be useful to researchers and practitioners both to explain and to design DCC platforms. Discussing each of the emerging categories from the proposed taxonomy helps us to provide insights into DCCs, offering a new theoretical frame for investigating the particular case of digital payment platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Central Asian Economic Review is the property of Narxoz University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents an asset-pricing model for an integrated financial economy in a multi-currency framework in which three risk dimensions drive asset prices: global risk, regional risk and country-specific risk. Under this framework, all risks are common since, by trading assets across countries, agents can load on foreign risk. However, the model's solution imposes restrictions on the loading coefficients. As a result, only the dispersion in global and regional coefficients is needed to explain currency returns. The model is tested with a linear-factor model at the currency-pair level using a sample of 42 countries located in five different regions. It is shown that, as the model predicted, regional and global factors help explain the dispersion in currency returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematised collaborative design of complementary currencies is still a largely unexplored area that offers underutilised opportunities for supporting a fair and sustainable sharing economy. Future currency design necessitates attention to the systemic factors and the social particularities in which new monetary alternatives, i.e. 'monies', and the technological solutions that serve these alternatives, are created. This paper argues for a socially and contextually sensitive design of complementary currency innovation. It considers the technological conditions and the tendencies to exploitation from contemporary capitalism. Based on the literature review, we propose collaborative design of complementary currencies with particularist and inclusive approaches. New directions for open-ended economic innovation are explored in finding opportunities in the future-oriented Transition Design, supported by an empathic and ambivalent design mindset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The highly contagious nature of SARS-CoV-2 has led to several studies on the transmission of the virus. A little studied potential fomite of great concern in the community is currency, which has been shown to harbor microbial pathogens in several studies. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses in the United States have limited the use of banknotes in favor of credit cards. However, SARS-CoV-2 has shown greater stability on plastic in several studies. Herein, the stability of SARS-CoV-2 at room temperature on banknotes, money cards and coins was investigated. In vitro studies with live virus suggested SARS-CoV-2 was highly unstable on banknotes, showing an initial rapid reduction in viable virus and no viral detection by 24 hours. In contrast, SARS-CoV-2 displayed increased stability on money cards with live virus detected after 48 hours. Environmental swabbing of currency and money cards on and near the campus of Brigham Young University supported these results, with no detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on banknotes, and a low level on money cards. However, no viable virus was detected on either. These preliminary results suggest that the use of money cards over banknotes in order to slow the spread of this virus may be ill-advised. These findings should be investigated further through larger environmental studies involving more locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local currencies represent an alternative to fiat money. They contribute to the development of local communities, primarily by supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, which remain fundamental for the economy of every European country. The purpose of the study is to identify both ways and methods focused on supporting the implementation of the concept of sustainable development by the selected local currencies in the area of Europe, analysed in the years 1932-2020. The paper takes the form a descriptive analysis based on the studies covering Polish, Czech, Dutch, German and English source literature as well as the Community Currencies in Action (CCIA) publications, websites of the analysed local currencies and other studies in the field of financial law. The method of comparative analysis was used to examine the similarities and differences in supporting the implementation of the concept of sustainable development. The basic conclusion formulated after conducting the research is the fact that each local currency does support sustainable development in an indirect way. In addition, certain local currencies can be identified, in the case of which the support of sustainable development is the essence of their functioning. The effectiveness of the impact exerted by local currencies on sustainable development depends on the involvement of the creators of these currency systems and the specificity of the existing conditions. The ability to establish partnerships between non-governmental organisations, business entities and public administration may also play a significant role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research investigated how to balance ocean-oriented island culture and materialist tourist industry development while our society moves into the pandemic era.　Lanyu, where indigenous people reside, has an abundance of the Tao tribe's ocean-centered culture.　However, tourism brings many problems, especially an overwhelming amount of garbage, environmental damage, and socio-cultural value-related issues.　 From 2018 to 2020, we participated in a blockchain-based local currency trial named the Tao Coins and ID passports experiment, led by a technological company that interacted with key local persons and grassroots conservation organizations.　Based on a participatory process and qualitative research methods, including interviews and environmental observations, we developed the small-island eco-tourism research project of the Lanyu.　We present the initial stage of the Tao Coin trial in this paper that consists of four sections.　 First, we introduce the background of Lanyu Island and the Tao tribe's cultural landscape.　Secondly, we elaborate on the tourism crisis of Lanyu Island.　Tourists, with their garbage, and the marine waste flooding in the surrounding ocean have burdened the ecological system of Lanyu Island.　Thirdly, we investigate the flying fish sharing systems within the Tao cultural practice including boat-building teams, fishing groups, and the egalitarian distribution of fish.　Fourthly, we explain the Tao Coin experiment initiated by a blockchain-based IT company.　The goal of the Tao Coin, originally, was to call for tourists' environmental awareness.　In conclusion, we analyze how the Tao Coin experiment failed through the perspective of the Tao's sharing culture system.　We found that, from the aspect of "sharing," although the social system of sharing with the Tao has changed a lot, it still exists in different forms.　The Tao Coin is a distinct way to build the value of "sharing." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces an application of the moving average trend-chasing rule that effectively reduces the risk of portfolios. The results are fairly robust: all our moving average lags produce about 36% (34%) less Value-at-Risk and about 31% (30%) less expected shortfall without giving up any returns on average after transaction costs compared to the buy-and-hold strategy, calculated in local currencies (in U.S. dollars). In addition, the paper finds that the volatility of returns follows a similar pattern by producing on average 29% (30%) less volatility in local currencies (in U.S. dollars). Moreover, the CAPM betas of the trading rule are significantly lower (50%) than in the buy-and-hold strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether regional currency premiums explain foreign stock returns in a multifactor global asset pricing model for four different geographical regions. In the model, the regional currency premium is the spread between the return of a portfolio of currency investments from a given region and the average global currency return. The estimation is performed by adding the regional currency premium to a global four‐factor model that includes momentum and the Fama and French factors (market, size, and book‐to‐market factors). Tests of the model's ability to explain both the time series and the cross section of stock returns show that currency risk premium improves the fitness of global factors in explaining domestic returns, although models with domestic factors still outperform the model with global factors and currency risk. The results indicate that the regional currency premium factor captures dimensions of risks not captured by the Fama and French and momentum factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After Asian financial crisis, the Japanese government quickly adjusted its foreign economic policy and, unlike their traditional image of inaction, actively carried out and led the crisis rescue work through separate policies. The introduction and implementation of the "New Miyazawa Initiative" represented that the focus of the Japanese government has shifted to the preparation for and construction of the regional local currency bond market. This was backed by the strategic consideration to restart yen internationalization (or yen re-internationalization). It reflects the Japanese government's reflection and adjustment on the path selection of promoting the internationalization of yen in the early stage. Relying on such change, The Japanese government intended to foster regional yen bond market to build yen backflow mechanism in East Asia and to realize the long-term objective of yen internationalization through "regionalization." On the twentieth anniversary of Asian financial crisis, this paper re-examines the change to yen internationalization strategy, which is of practical significance for other cases' attempt to internationalize local currencies as RMB internationalization at present. With reference to the strategic change in yen Re-internationalization, RMB internationalization shall shift the focus from "trade settlement" in the past to "capital outflow" through fostering the regional RMB bond market, expand RMB backflow mechanism. China shall focus on Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and other new regional financial cooperation platforms to promote RMB regionalization, thus finally realizing the strategic objective of RMB internationalization. Nevertheless, this path selection is inseparable from China's positive attitude toward financial and capital liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes "Wymiennik" -- Warsaw system which uses the alternative currency "alterka". The main aim of the paper is to think over how the creators of the initiative understand their resistance to consumption practices and to what extent their activism leads to socio-economic change. The categories by Marek Krajewski concerning on nonconformist lifestyles are used; it turned out that the most useful concept is "discreet resistance". To get knowledge about "Wymiennik" I conducted 12 in-depth interviews and two years of participatory observation, furthermore I analyzed materials published or recommended by the creators of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monetary policies and adjustments during a financial crisis depend on policy-makers' conceptions on what money is and how it works. There is sufficient consensus among scholars that money is an institution created within the economic system and is in line with other institutions that regulate economic action. However, there are different understandings of what institutions are and how they operate, and these understandings imply differences in terms of monetary enforcement, resilience, responsiveness and stability. This paper discusses the two main approaches that conceptualise institutions as rules and as practices presenting an empirically informed discussion of money as an institution drawing on these insights. It grounds the analysis on the empirical case of Argentina as a monetary laboratory and the plurality of currencies that circulate in its economy. The study argues that while the official currency of Argentina corresponds to the institutions as rules approach, the adoption of the U.S. dollar into a bimonetary economy evolved as equilibrium. In between, the massive community currency systems that rose and declined during the economic meltdown between 1998 and 2002 were a hybrid institution that combined rules and practice. All three of them show various degrees of resilience and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains the central role of the dollar in world trade? Will the US currency retain its dominant status in the future? This paper develops a quantitative general equilibrium framework with endogenous currency choice that can address these questions. Complementarities in price setting and input-output linkages across firms generate complementarities in currency choice making exporters coordinate on the same currency of invoicing. The dollar is more likely to play this role because of the large size of the US economy, a widespread peg to the dollar, and the history dependence in currency choice. Calibrated using the world input-output tables and exchange rate moments, the model can successfully replicate the key empirical facts about the use of currencies at the global level, across countries, and over time. According to the counterfactual analysis, the peg to the dollar in other economies ensures that the US currency is unlikely to lose its global status because of the falling US share in the world economy, but can be replaced by the renminbi in case of a negative shock in the US economy. If the peg is abandoned, the world is likely to move to a new equilibrium with multiple regional currencies. (JEL D21, E31, E42, F14, F31, F33) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine optimal exchange-rate flexibility in a model of local-currency pricing with vertical production and trade. Following a large body of empirical evidence, we assume that final-goods prices are sticky, but intermediate-goods prices are flexible. We find that, unlike what is found in the literature, optimal nominal exchange rate is flexible under local-currency pricing. The key element in deriving our conclusion is the difference in expenditure shares between home and foreign households. The conclusion holds even if the degrees of home bias in production are identical between home and foreign final-goods producers, which contrasts with the findings in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "RMBI or RMBR? Is the Renminbi Destined to Become a Global or Regional Currency?" by Barry Eichengreen and Domenico Lombardi in the issue.

This article uses transaction data from three time banks located in Barcelona to analyze their potential to generate bonding and bridging social capital for their members. Regarding bonding social capital, the findings are in line with the related literature in terms of the average number of trading partners and the ego-network density. However, reciprocity is a more frequent form of behavior in our data than in other time banks from other countries. Concerning bridging social capital and considering different age groups, the results show slight evidence of homophilic behavior, although intergenerational transactions are also present, being more frequent between more similar age groups. Finally, we explore the influence of age on the time it takes for members to engage in transactions, which could somehow be related to their potential motivations behind joining a time bank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community action for sustainability is a promising site of socio-technical innovation. Here we test the applicability of co-evolutionary niche theories of innovation diffusion (strategic niche management, SNM) to the context of ‘grassroots innovations’ (GIs). We present new empirical findings from an international study of 12 community currency niches (such as Local Exchange Trading Schemes, time banks, and local currencies). These are parallel systems of exchange, designed to operate alongside mainstream money, meeting additional sustainability needs. Our findings confirm SNM predictions that niche-level activity correlates with diffusion success, but we highlight additional or confounding factors, and how niche theories might be adapted to better fit civil society innovations. In so doing, we develop a model of GI niche diffusion which extends existing work and tailors it to this specific context. The paper concludes with a series of theoretically informed recommendations for practitioners and policy-makers to support the development and potential of GIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocean ecosystems are in decline, yet we also have more ocean data, and more data portals, than ever before. To make effective decisions regarding ocean management, especially in the face of global environmental change, we need to make the best use possible of these data. Yet many data are not shared, are hard to find, and cannot be effectively accessed. We identify three classes of challenges to data sharing and use: uploading, aggregating, and navigating. While tremendous advances have occurred to improve ocean data operability and transparency, the effect has been largely incremental. We propose a suite of both technical and cultural solutions to overcome these challenges including the use of natural language processing, automatic data translation, ledger-based data identifiers, digital community currencies, data impact factors, and social networks as ways of breaking through these barriers. One way to harness these solutions could be a combinatorial machine that embodies both technological and social networking solutions to aggregate ocean data and to allow researchers to discover, navigate, and download data as well as to connect researchers and data users while providing an open-sourced backend for new data tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local currencies have been used to achieve local economic, social and environmental goals that are not attained by national currencies. Thus, they can also be applied as a mean of the regional development focused on the development of the local tourism. However, trustworthiness and costs of local currencies have been some of the main impediments in their widely usage. Therefore, discount rates that practitioners (including municipal authorities and governments) of local currencies present for potential users might play a key role to deal with these issues. Within this context, this research intends to assess the relationship between discount rates that potential users demand to use local currencies (a paper-based and a digital) and their trust to these currencies. To hit this target, a questionnaire survey was directed to 407 employees of a regional business in Cieszyn Silesia region and the responses were analyzed by binary logistic regression test in SPSS Statistical Software. The results confirm that potential users with more trust to local currencies have more tendencies to demand higher discount rates. Cultural values, occupational status, age, income levels of respondents and potential roles of governments and local authorities in local currency implementations might be the reasons of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper investigates the sources of variation in emerging market (EM) local currency bond risk premium. We find that macroeconomic and financial variables contain valuable information in explaining local currency bond excess returns. Additionally, we extend our analysis to investigate how the influence of different factors change depending on the level of global risk appetite. Although macro fundamentals have an important role in explaining the risk premiums during tranquil times, investors pay less attention to changes in inflation forecast in times of high risk aversion. Positive credit rating changes decrease the bond risk premium in both regimes with a different magnitude. Also, the influence of exchange rate volatility is more pronounced during the time of market stress. Highlights • We find that the bond risk premium is counter-cyclical, being lower when the economic activity is rising and vice versa. • Macro fundamentals have an important role in explaining the risk premiums during tranquil times. • Positive credit rating changes decrease the bond risk premium in both regimes with a different magnitude. • The spillover effect resulting from G4 countries to emerging markets has significant negative coefficients in both regimes. • The influence of exchange rate volatility is more pronounced in the high risk aversion regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community currencies are used to pay for products or services within specific groups defined by geographical boundaries or specific common interests. Financial crises, social emergence in developing countries, and increased access to digital devices have stimulated a growing number of communities worldwide to develop digital currency projects. These projects use technologies ranging from traditional plastic cards to mobile phones and blockchain technologies. Following the design science research approach, this paper analyzes digital community currencies (DCCs) by developing a taxonomy based on platform architecture, governance, transactionality and virtuality. By investigating 22 DCC platforms around the world, 4 groups were distinguished: local, proprietary, commons and cyber. The identification of these four different groups of digital community currencies allows us to better discuss the potentials and limitations of each one of them. The presented taxonomy can be useful to researchers and practitioners both to explain and to design DCC platforms. Discussing each of the emerging categories from the proposed taxonomy helps us to provide insights into DCCs, offering a new theoretical frame for investigating the particular case of digital payment platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines an example of a community currency system, the Argentine `barter clubs' developed from 1995. The term 'barter club' denotes a place of market exchange, within which economic transactions are paid for using an internal paper currency, the credito, issued by the founders of these clubs and not convertible to the official currency. The author's starting point is to wonder whether this micromonetary system could operate in an insular and independent manner, or if it was necessary to establish some kind of relation with the official macromonetary system. This was investigated by: an analysis of the discourses expressed by the key actors involved in `barter clubs'; a field survey conducted in a score of clubs in the province of Buenos Aires, and a case study of one of these; and comparing these results and conclusions with those of other researchers obtained at different times and in different places across the whole of Argentina. It was found that despite the barter club founders' desire to create an independent monetary system, the community currency owes its conditions of existence and acceptance to the official currency. The micromonetary credito system is fundamentally tied to the official macromonetary peso system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1934, the Swiss Wirtschaftsring/Cercle Économique (Economic Circle), now the WIR-Bank, has issued its own currency, not backed by Swiss Francs. Turnover in WIR is countercyclical: firms use it more in a recession. A money-in-the-production-function model implies that this spending arises through larger WIR Balances for larger firms, but greater WIR Velocity for smaller ones. Panel data by industrial sector confirm this pattern, similar to commercial trade credits, a major source of non-bank credit. The countercyclical multiplier on WIR expenditures is highly leveraged, and its impact on the Swiss Economy greater than its turnover would suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse the evaluation of the level of development of government bonds market in Romania, current features and tendencies. The analysis refers to basic elements describing the bonds market such as: issuance value, issuer, bonds type, maturity, interest rate, issuance currency, yield, liquidity etc. The Romanian government is favoring a net financing in local currency to facilitate the development of the domestic securities market and to help mitigate foreign currency exposure. The presence in the international capital markets is maintained through issuances of Eurobonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

the remarkable growth of Sardex as a local currency throughout the island of Sardinia over the past 5 years motivated an in-depth look at its starting assumptions, design and operational principles, and local context. The paper looks at Sardex as a social innovation start-up, a complementary currency, a mutual credit system, and a socio-economic «circuit». The analysis relies on interviews of circuit members and its founders. The main findings are that trust was and continues to be fundamentally important for the creation and operation of the mutual credit system, and that Sardex encompasses both economic and social value(s) in a process of re-embedding of the economy. Sardex configured itself as a crucial mediator of economic exchanges and became a valuable actor acting as an institution at the regional level. These properties make it an ideal space for experimentation in socio-economic innovation that can be characterized as a «laboratory for multi-level governance». [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the asymmetrical relationship between exchange rate and consumer prices in 40 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 1990Q1 to 2017Q4. We estimate the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) to consumer prices for each country by using the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) framework and dynamic panel techniques robust to cross-sectional dependence. First, our findings suggest an asymmetrical ERPT in the SSA region during the short term, whereas there are mixed results across subregions in the long term. Second, the results of the panel analysis suggest incomplete and significant ERPT to consumer prices in the entire SSA region, which is higher during depreciation of the local currency than after appreciation in the short-term, especially in the CFA Franc zone. Third, we find nonlinear ERPT with respect to the size of the exchange rate. Finally, we find that pass-through is higher in countries with fixed exchange rate regimes (CFA franc zone) in a low inflationary environment than in countries with floating exchange rate regimes and high inflation levels. Pass-through is greater during large exchange rate changes than after small changes. Therefore, the policy implication is to consider these asymmetries and nonlinearities to improve monetary policy's credibility, enhance trade liberalization, and promote competitive market structures in the SSA region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a dataset of account information and detailed transaction records for a digital complementary currency in Kenya. This "Sarafu system" initially encompassed several local, physical community currencies, which began transitioning to a feature-phone mobile interface in 2017. One unit of "Sarafu" is roughly equivalent in value to a Kenyan shilling. The published data includes anonymized account information for around 55,000 users and records of all Sarafu transactions conducted from January 25, 2020 to June 15, 2021. Transactions totaling around 300 million Sarafu capture various economic and financial activities such as purchases, transfers, and participation in savings and lending groups. So-called "chamas" are key to the operation of the Sarafu system and many such groups are labeled in the data. Describing this data contributes to research on the operation of community currencies, monetary systems, and economic networks in marginalized, food insecure areas. The observation period includes the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and several documented pilot projects and interventions. Measurement(s) Payment Technology Type(s) Monitoring Sample Characteristic - Organism Homo sapiens Sample Characteristic - Environment Complementary currency system Sample Characteristic - Location Kenya [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]