Lets

LETS get real: constraints on the development of Local Exchange Trading Schemes

ALDRIDGE, T. J. and PATTERSON, A. Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/1295/

This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version ALDRIDGE, T. J. and PATTERSON, A. (2002). LETS get real: constraints on the development of Local Exchange Trading Schemes. Area, 34 (4), 370-381.

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LETS get real: constraints on the development of Local Exchange Trading Schemes

Local Exchange Trading Schemes (LETS) are widely promoted as a new tool for local economic development, but until recently the focus has been on their alleged ‘potential’ rather than the realities of their operation. This paper assesses the practical economic role of LETS by examining the amount of trading conducted, and demonstrates that both the volume of trading and the value of the trades are very low. Drawing on an intensive case study of the first UK LETS created explicitly as part of a local authority’s anti-poverty strategy, explanations for the low levels of participation are suggested, and significant structural constraints on the development of LETS are identified. Key words: Hounslow, west London; intensive case study; economic development; self-help local currencies; local

Introduction Local Exchange Trading Schemes1 (LETS), and similar local currency schemes, have been created at different...