Community-based LETSystems in Australia: Localised Barter in a Sophisticated Western Economy

Abstract

Modern domestic barter systems are operating in Australia and other high income countries at the local community level, and at the national level for business exchanges. These exchange regimes appear to have become institutionalised in a macro-marketing system that is organised on the primacy of market exchange based on price as the co-ordinating device. This points to widespread imperfections in various markets at the local level, and in particular, in markets for credit and labour. In this paper, the nature of Australian community-based LETSystems is discussed and some results from a national survey in Australia of LETS members are presented. The interface between LETSystems, the federal taxation system and the social security system in Australia is introduced.