Project Year

2009

Region(s)

Latin America and the Caribbean

Country(ies)

Brazil

Project Description

The primary aim of this project is to investigate the potential of “Local Money Systems” (LMS) as an innovative instrument to reduce poverty. The project intends to investigate the evolution of a particular Brazilian experience: the case of Banco Bem (Bem Bank). In 2005, an exploratory research on Banco do Bem was carried out. The project intends to return to that locality and to analyze that experience after 3 years of previous research to do a longitudinal comparison of this experience. The study will identify the profile of the beneficiaries; measure the economic gain derived from the use of a local money and the degree of satisfaction of the population that use the local money; to detect possible constrains to the development of the system; and to identify what is a possible role for the State in this context.

Researcher(s)

Marco Crocco Afonso, Fabiana Santos

About the Researcher(s)

Marco Crocco Afonso received his PhD in Economics from the University of London. He is an associate professor at Center for Regional Development and Planning (CEDEPLAR) – Federal University of Minas Gerais; Vice Director of the Faculty of Economics at Federal University of Minas Gerais; and Director of Graduate Studies at Center for Regional Development and Planning.