LAUSR

The commons are alternative social and economic practices for fostering community development and regeneration. While finance is increasingly criticized as a trigger for individualism, community currencies are one of the financial initiatives that aim to reorganize finance in the collective interest. We analyze to what extent these alternative systems allow finance to constitute common goods or ‘commons’. To this end, we investigate the commoning practices through which resources are created, distributed, and consumed in a way that promotes new collectives. We analyze the extent to which community currencies can be considered as commons. Our findings suggest that community currencies have strong collective attributes such as community building, as well as the insertion of solidarity and cooperative values in money. Finally, we inquire into the limits and ambiguities of community currencies to represent an alternative to the capitalist economy.