The aim of this paper is to investigate towards a relatively unexplored area: the Local Money Systems (LMS), that are, in short, an agreement amongst the population of a community to use a mean of payment which is valid only in that particular space where they live. To achieve such objectives, it was made a survey of the existent national and international bibliography on this topic, an exercise of theorization based on the post-keynesian theory and an exploratory study of a Brazilian case, the Banco Bem located in the city of Vitória/ES. The goal was not to infer concluding results − which would be precipitate because of its early character − but to expand its understanding and to indicate its potentialities and limits.
Local money; Financial exclusion; Local development; Post-Keynesian economics
