CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Criscione, Teodoro |
|---|---|
| Title | Network Effects on Community Currency Systems |
| Summary | The scope of this thesis is the study of community currencies for basic income pilots and cash transfer programs. I empirically study and analyze the network structure and the dynamics of two community currency systems with the aim to assess their socioeconomic impact by using network science tools. The first case study is Sarafu token network, a community currency used in cash transfer programs for humanitarian aid in Kenya during COVID-19 emergency. The second case study is Circles UBI network, a pilot project for universal basic income in Berlin, which was also active during COVID-19 emergency. In both cases, the use of a digital infrastructure allows us to analyze the topology of the economy underneath, study the users behavior, and assess the state of the currency network. The contribution of this work is twofold: First, I provide for the first time a thorough network analysis of these two types of social innovations for humanitarian aid. Second, utilizing the access to the transaction network, I apply a new approach to studying an economic system, in particular, to the problems of recirculation and economic synergy. The tools introduced in the present study have a broad field of application and can help policymakers to assess similar projects, and in general ones that include monetary interventions through a digital infrastructure. |
| Supervisor | Kertész, János |
| Department | Network Science PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/criscione_teodoro.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University