Currencies vs Current-sees: New approaches to counting value

Internal Seminar for Researchers

Diana will join us from Bristol Pay, to give a talk based a paper co-written Marcus Petz, which we delivered in Dublin at the Global Conference on Economic Geography in Dublin in June this year

Abstract: Local currencies, whether backed by sterling or not, have been experimented with several times in the UK, with the aim of creating economic, social and environmental impacts. Whilst they have had some positive effects at a case study level, they have not operated at sufficient scale either to create long term viability or to create measurable economic, social or environmental effects. Building on the learnings from the Bristol Pound currency, Diana Finch explores the potential for a completely different approach to creating social and environmental change through local current-sees, by using tokens to count things other than financial value, whilst drawing on social economy experiments undertaken by Dan Ariely et al, and the ISM model of behaviour.

About Diana: Diana started her career in bookkeeping and the design and implementation of accounting systems. When her children were small, she became an activist in her local community, working on community development projects. From that point on, she decided to work in the non-profit sector, taking on senior roles in both environmentally and socially focused organisations. She joined Bristol Pay CIC (then Bristol Pound CIC) as Managing Director in 2018, where for the last two years she has focused on developing the concepts behind the Bristol Pay project.