This Web page describes the Barataria Exchange Project, dedicated to developing local exchange trading systems in four European localities.These systems organize small- and medium-sized businesses, public institutions and socially oriented third-system enterprises into local trade networks based on bartering, or local "money". This Web page contains information on various related experiences, an analysis of the limitations of our monetary economy, and specific information about about our local exchange projects in Ireland, Scotland, Amsterdam and Madrid. There are also links to other Web pages on related subjects concerning social economy and on other resources.
SEX, TIME and MONEY or The Times They Are Exchanging
"If you want to take true measure of someone, observe how he handles sex, time and money". Jacob Needleman in his book Money and the Meaning of Life .
This Web page is not about Sex, but it is, indirectly, about Time, and it is a lot about Money, or, perhaps, about some alternatives to money.
Money has been around a long time, quite a few centuries. One could say it ranks up there with the wheel as one of the great inventions in human history. It has had a lot to do with societies ability to grow and to become more complex, permitting scientific and technological discovery and progress, and enabling an incredible accumulation of goods and machines in constant expansion. Money has permitted the exchange of products and services in increasingly complex and vast networks, which now encompass almost every part of our world.
But maybe it’s time that we look at some of the limitations of our monetarized world, and maybe it's time that we start looking seriously at some alternatives.
The BARATARIA EXCHANGE PROJECT is just that: an attempt to put into practice alternative local exchange systems and this Web page is about this attempt, its successes, its failures and its potential for growth.
Our project, launched in 1998 under the auspices of the DGV of the European Commission, is being developed in four European contexts; rural Scotland, County Mayo, Ireland, and the cities of Amsterdam and Madrid. Its objective is to build local organizations comprising third system initiatives, private businesses, and public bodies whereby as members they can exchange goods and services using systems of internal trading units as an alternative to national currencies. This in fact is a system of interest free loans between the participants, which will allow greater volume of exchange and business for all, and in the long run can promote growth of employment, better linkage of local needs and local resources and more community based economies. Perhaps, too, it can provide us with experiences that can help us imagine the next step for other alternatives to our problematic monetarized world.
The following pages provide some general material about what we think some of the limitations of the global money system are, and the possible advantages of our proposal. We include information on the history of different experiences of local exchange systems and a lot of detail on the mechanics and workings of our projects. We welcome comments on what we have presented, and we will present continual updates on our progress.