The Rise and Fall of the Community Currency Systems in Thailand

Amidst the trend towards economic integration, local-based community currencies emerged in many countries around the world to fill the gap of what regular currency cannot do. They are the local initiative to cope with diverse problems, ranging from economic crisis, poverty, debts, unemployment and environmental degradation. In Thailand, three community currency systems (CCSs) were established, namely Bia Kud Chum System, Jai Coupon Exchange System and Por Coupon Exchange System, as a response to averse effects of globalisation for the survival of the community through Local Economic Development (LED). The paper contains six chapters, detailing theories and concepts on LED to serve as the framework for analysing the CCS’ contribution to community, enterprise and locality development. Next, the concepts and history of CCSs around the world are reviewed. Then, the three CCSs in Thailand are present in terms of their origins, participants, rules of using and the rise and fall of the three systems. This is followed by the chapter on the analysis of the outcomes of the three systems on LED through selective spatial closure. This paper is finally concluded with the future trend of the CCS in Thailand and lessons learned.