Complementary currency localization in closed contours of economic exchange: theoretical background and experimental verification

Abstract

The issue of basics for successful functioning of a complementary currency has gained utmost importance in the recent years because of the crisis phenomenon in the world economic domain. In the discussed research, the focus has been put on the structural aspect of the problem with the network approach having been used as a theoretical background. During the initial stage of the research, a mathematical model of a local municipal economy has been engineered. Using this economic model and a number of other economic local system models, it has been revealed that closed exchange contours could be found in every modelled system. It has been found that the number of closed exchange contours in an economic system is greater than in the similar random or social system, and exactly these contours form a structural basis for system’s sustainability. To evaluate the effect of complementary currency introduction, an agent-based computer model has been coded. This computer model has proved the efficiency of complementary currency introduction. Complementary money supports functioning of the economy, and, in case of the lack of real money, can improve and speed up economic processes flowing in the system. The described results have been received while computer simulation with implementation of the agent-based computer model and have been verified through the experiments in the real local economic system.