Local currencies could go a long way toward solving some of those problems, thus leading to wider use of their currencies if they would think a little bigger. Such currencies need to be city-regional in scale roughly based on metro areas with sizable rural hinterlands. This is because cities are the major drivers economic development, where real markets exist and where real people interact to get real work done, as Jane Jacobs demonstrated in some of her more celebrated works. I also see much of Thomas Greco’s thought moving along the same lines from the reciprocal trade perspective.

These operations should design themselves along the line of currency boards, placing themselves somewhere between the more orthodox currency boards and the more dynamic currency board arrangement of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. To make these currencies more functional and relevant consumers must not only be able to spend these local currencies, investors must be able to invest these currencies in SMEs in their region. The currency boards should be designed to transition to a reserve basis not so reliant on national currencies such as the US or Canadian dollars. This may be done by maintaining a reserve made up of the national currency and trade credits. This would allow commercial trade exchanges to interface well with grassroots efforts to launch and manage local currency reserve boards.