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Unpacking monetary complementarity and competition: a conceptual framework

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  • Jérôme Blanc

Abstract

Opposing approaches to money competition that state that all monetary forms are substitutes, theories of complementarity state that some can be complementary. This text analyses the ways in which monies can be linked by drawing upon the variety of so-called contemporary community and complementary currencies (CCCs). It considers four basic binary relations between monetary assets: commensurability, convertibility, co-use and coincidence of spheres of uses. Through their combinations, four means of linking monies are identified: substitutability, simultaneity, supplementarity and autonomy. On this basis, unpacked competition and complementarity do not oppose each other but appear to be related. The less forms of money are built on specific social values, the more complementarity may be pervaded by competition. This paper illustrates how this framework can be used with cases of the Argentine trueque (‘barter’) and the French experimental SOL. Both experienced difficulties that show the complexity of the links, possible shifts and their effects on the sustainability of the schemes.

Suggested Citation

  • Jérôme Blanc, 2017. "Unpacking monetary complementarity and competition: a conceptual framework," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 41(1), pages 239-257.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:41:y:2017:i:1:p:239-257.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/bew024
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    Cited by:

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    2. Filipe Moreira Alves & Rui Santos & Gil Penha-Lopes, 2022. "Revisiting the Missing Link: An Ecological Theory of Money for a Regenerative Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Jérôme Blanc, 2017. "Making Sense of the Plurality of Money : A Polanyian Attempt," Post-Print halshs-02023680, HAL.
    4. Jérôme Blanc, 2018. "Tensions in the triangle: monetary plurality between institutional integration, competition and complementarity," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 389-411, December.
    5. Eduardo Ferraciolli & Tanya Araújo, 2023. "Agent-based Modeling and the Sociology of Money: a Framework for the Study of Coordination and Plurality," Working Papers REM 2023/0285, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    6. Georgina M. Gómez, 2019. "Money as an Institution: Rule versus Evolved Practice? Analysis of Multiple Currencies in Argentina," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-14, May.
    7. Louis Larue & Camille Meyer & Marek Hudon & Joakim Sandberg, 2022. "The Ethics of Alternative Currencies," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/341622, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    8. Alexandra Lenis Escobar & Ramón Rueda López & Jorge E. García Guerrero & Enrique Salinas Cuadrado, 2020. "Design of Strategies for the Implementation and Management of a Complementary Monetary System Using the SWOT-AHP Methodology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-23, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Money; Monetary plurality; Complementarity currencies; Competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System

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