Abeille (local currency)

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Abeille is the name of a community currency started in 2010 [1] in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, France. It is named after the French word for bee. The Abeille program is intended to promote local commerce. The Abeille operates with a fixed exchange rate: 1 Abeille = €1.

In economics, a local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organisations. A regional currency is a form of local currency encompassing a larger geographical area. A local currency acts as a complementary currency to a national currency, rather than replacing it, and aims to encourage spending within a local community, especially with locally owned businesses. The currency may not be backed by a national government or be legal tender in the UK. About 300 complementary currencies, including local currencies, are listed in the Complementary Currency Resource Center worldwide database.

Villeneuve-sur-Lot Subprefecture and commune in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France

Villeneuve-sur-Lot is a town and commune in the southwestern French department of Lot-et-Garonne. The commune was formerly named Villeneuve-d'Agen.

France Republic with mainland in Europe and numerous oversea territories

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

Contents

Creation and objectives

An initiative of a local NGO, "Agir pour le vivant" (Act for the living), [2] the Abeille is intended to:

  1. Promotion of sustainability: organic food and renewable energy among others
  2. Strengthening the solidarity: enhancing the human relationship between local shoppers and businesses
  3. Stimulation of local economy.

Currency issue, exchange and acceptance

Bills of 1, 2, 5, and 10 Abeille are issued. They feature drawings from the painter Jean-Claude Maurel on the obverse, and a photograph of a bee on a flower by the photographer Christian Aymé on the reverse. [1]

To maintain an individual bill's validity, a "scrip" corresponding to 2% of the banknote value must be paid every six months. (This system, called demurrage, is a form of currency circulation tax and was invented by Silvio Gesell.)

Scrip

A scrip is any substitute for legal tender. It is often a form of credit. Scrips have been created for payment of employees under truck systems, and for use in local commerce at times when regular currency was unavailable, for example in remote coal towns, military bases, ships on long voyages, or occupied countries in wartime. Besides company scrip, other forms of scrip include land scrip, vouchers, token coins such as subway tokens, IOUs, arcade tokens and tickets, and points on some credit cards.

Demurrage is the cost associated with owning or holding currency over a given period. It is sometimes referred to as a carrying cost of money. For commodity money such as gold, demurrage is the cost of storing and securing the gold. For paper currency, it can take the form of a periodic tax, such as a stamp tax, on currency holdings. Demurrage is sometimes cited as economically advantageous, usually in the context of complementary currency systems.

Silvio Gesell German merchant, theoretical economist, social activist, anarchist and founder of Freiwirtschaft

Silvio Gesell was a German merchant, theoretical economist, social activist, Georgist, anarchist, libertarian socialist, and founder of Freiwirtschaft. In 1900 he founded the magazine Geld-und Bodenreform, but it soon closed for financial reasons. During one of his stays in Argentina, where he lived in a vegetarian commune, Gesell started the magazine Der Physiokrat together with Georg Blumenthal. In 1914, it closed due to censorship.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 La Dépêche du Midi news (in French)
  2. Agir pour le vivant website (in French)