Interesting way to see local spending in action

August 24, 2008

I wanted to share this story I came across about a chamber of commerce that did something ingenuous to help people see the effects of spending locally:

Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce uses $2 bills to track local spending

I would love to see Spokane’s Chamber of Commerce try this.

Tagged as: economy, local

Mariah

Good luck getting GSI to adopt such an experimental project. Even most "progressive" types consider local currency to be highly radical. Maybe they could be convinced to promote a traditional "Buy Local" marketing campaign as a first step.

Still I find the idea interesting... We could print Spokane money with James Glover and May Arkwright-Hutton on it!

simonds

It wouldn't be local currency, just using a rarely-used U.S. denomination. Since it is rarely used, it would be noticed easily as it changes hands.

The key would be to get businesses to make sure to give out any $2 bills received as change for subsequent transactions. It doesn't work if the money just gets deposited into a bank.