Reinventing Money: Monetary Experiments and Trust Creation in the Argentinean Barter Club (1980-2009)
Supervisors: Peter Hedberg and Eugenia Morey (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras)
All the informants (todos los informantes)
GH-nation and Göransson – Sandviken resestipendium
Esta tesis trata sobre el Club de Trueque (CT), un sistema monetario complementario, el cual creó posibilidades de mantenimiento para sus 2,5 millones de miembros durante la crisis económica de Argentina en el año 2002. El foco de este estudio es la fundación del club durante los años 1995-1996. En este período se hicieron experimentos monetarios que iban a generar un medio de pago que parcialmente reemplazó al peso argentino durante la crisis de convertibilidad. Esta tesis explica como el CT logró crear confianza en su moneda.
Aunque el CT ha sido objeto de muchas investigaciones, ésta tesis ofrece información nueva. Ante todo, el desarrollo monetario en el CT no sólo tuvo su origen en la necesidad práctica de bajar los costos a causa de la rápida expansión del movimiento, sino que también, una crisis de confianza fue decisiva para el desarrollo desde el principio.
Otro descubrimiento importante es que la razón por la cual el club se formó no fue exclusivamente debido a problemas económicos personales, a pesar de que se fundó durante una recesión fuerte con tasas altas de desempleo. Los motivos tenían más que ver con un criticismo ideológico al sistema económico contemporáneo.
Claves: moneda social, dinero alternativo, confianza personal y interpersonal, substitución, Club de Trueque, Red Gobal de Trueque.
This is a study of the Argentinean Complementary Currency System el Club de Trueque (CT), which during its peak in the year of 2002 provided for its 2.5 million members. Focus is put on its initial years of 1995-1996 and the monetary experiments that would lead to a means of payment that partly would substitute the Argentinean peso during the convertibility crisis. This essay explains how the CT managed to create trust in their currency. Although the CT is a well researched phenomenon, this thesis offers some new information. First of all, the monetary development within the CT was not only driven by a practical need to lower transaction costs due to fast expansion—as previously assumed—rather, a confidence crisis was from the very start crucial for its development.
Another important discovery is that although the club was created during a period of strong recession and high rates of unemployment, personal economic problems did not, in fact, seem to be the motivation behind its invention; rather the motives were based on a criticism against the functions of the contemporary economic system.
Keywords: Complementary Currency System, Alternative Money, Trust, Confidence, Substitution, Club de Trueque, Red Global de Trueque.
Index:
PURPOSE AND QUESTION AT ISSUE METHOD
PREVIOUS RESEARCH ABOUT THE ARGENTINEAN BARTER CLUB PREVIOUS RESEARCH ABOUT OTHER COMPLEMENTARY CURRENCY SYSTEMS
THEORIES ABOUT THE HISTORY OF MONEY THEORIES ABOUT CONFIDENCE/TRUST/CREDIT
SETTING THE CONTEXT: THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF ARGENTINA
MONETARY EXPERIMENTS AND TRUST CREATION IN THE ARGENTINEAN BARTER CLUB
HOW AND WHY THE ARGENTINEAN BARTER CLUB STARTED 7.1.1 The entrepreneurs start experimenting 7.1.2 Reasons to start and join the first CT 7.2 MONETARY EXPERIMENTATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRUST IN THE ARGENTINEAN BARTER CLUB 1995-1996 7.3 A COMPILATION OF THE CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF MONETARY EXPERIMENTS AND CONFIDENCE WITHIN THE ARGENTINEAN BARTER NETWORK 7.3.1 1997-2002 7.3.2 After the Convertibility Crisis, 2002-2009 7.4 SUBSTITUTION OR COMPLEMENTATION BETWEEN CRÉDITOS AND PESOS?
LITERATURE ARCHIVES MATERIAL INTERNET SOURCES INTERVIEWS OTHER SOURCES (GIVEN BY INFORMANTS)
APPENDIX 1: QUOTES IN ORIGINAL LANGUAGE – CITAS EN CASTELLANO
APPENDIX 3: THE SOCIAL GROUP OF THE INITIAL BARTER CLUB
APPENDIX 4: PHOTOS OF CT CURRENCIES 1995-1996
14 APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO THE CT - PREGUNTAS DE LA ENTREVISTA CON EL CLUB DE TRUEQUE
