Will Critchlow: Founder of Distilled, fan of whisky, basketball and food (in almost any order), husband, father. These are my personal thoughts and not necessarily the views of Distilled (or anyone else).
You can find me on Twitter @willcritchlow or my company blog.
I just read about the Brixton pound (Google it) after seeing it tweeted by a local politician and it occurred to me that it looks like it was created by someone with no understanding of economics.
They have reimplemented a currency without all the good bits. With no secondary market and no floating exchange rate, it strikes me as pure pr puff.
If it had those things, there is a chance that local disadvantages could be overcome (particularly if you could borrow in this currency). This is a similar argument to how poorer countries in the eu might be better off with their own currency rather than being forced effectively to tie their exchange rate to the economic powerhouse of Germany.
I think the fact they won’t let you exchange them back for sterling is the most compelling argument that they aren’t really worth a pound sterling (and therefore shouldn’t have a fixed exchange rate).
Without these features I think I’d always prefer pounds sterling over Brixton pounds. If a pound sterling can always buy a Brixton pound but not vice versa, wouldn’t anyone?
Am I wrong? I’m not an expert in economics. Would love to hear where I’m wrong and how this actually does help regeneration.