Le WIR en Suisse : la révolte du puissant ?

The WIR has been in existence in Switzerland as a parallel currency since 1934. It was created in the 1930’s within the context of an economic and monetary crisis. Since then, it has adapted itself to a number of economic and social changes and it continued to evolve to the point that it is now used...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Guillaume Vallet
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Recherche & Régulation 2015-12-01
Series:Revue de la Régulation
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/11463
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832577987125444608
author Guillaume Vallet
author_facet Guillaume Vallet
author_sort Guillaume Vallet
collection DOAJ
description The WIR has been in existence in Switzerland as a parallel currency since 1934. It was created in the 1930’s within the context of an economic and monetary crisis. Since then, it has adapted itself to a number of economic and social changes and it continued to evolve to the point that it is now used by more than 60,000 companies in Switzerland. Such a success can be linked to a coherent economic as well as social project, which the WIR embodies. Hence this paper aims at understanding the reasons explaining its success, which strongly depends on the strength on its circulation as well as to the social values it embodies. We shed light on the fact that the WIR system is actually highly integrated to the current official Swiss monetary system. We argue that its existence and strength allow the Swiss monetary system to work efficiently: the WIR is “powerful” because it is at the core of the Swiss economic and social system, proof that monetary plurality can exist within a country’s monetary unity as well as the strength of small business companies using it, relying on the “strength of weak ties”.
format Article
id doaj-art-c763c936a4f24908aa29108264b1f9ac
institution Kabale University
issn 1957-7796
language English
publishDate 2015-12-01
publisher Association Recherche & Régulation
record_format Article
series Revue de la Régulation
spelling doaj-art-c763c936a4f24908aa29108264b1f9ac2025-01-30T14:26:08ZengAssociation Recherche & RégulationRevue de la Régulation1957-77962015-12-011810.4000/regulation.11463Le WIR en Suisse : la révolte du puissant ?Guillaume ValletThe WIR has been in existence in Switzerland as a parallel currency since 1934. It was created in the 1930’s within the context of an economic and monetary crisis. Since then, it has adapted itself to a number of economic and social changes and it continued to evolve to the point that it is now used by more than 60,000 companies in Switzerland. Such a success can be linked to a coherent economic as well as social project, which the WIR embodies. Hence this paper aims at understanding the reasons explaining its success, which strongly depends on the strength on its circulation as well as to the social values it embodies. We shed light on the fact that the WIR system is actually highly integrated to the current official Swiss monetary system. We argue that its existence and strength allow the Swiss monetary system to work efficiently: the WIR is “powerful” because it is at the core of the Swiss economic and social system, proof that monetary plurality can exist within a country’s monetary unity as well as the strength of small business companies using it, relying on the “strength of weak ties”.https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/11463WIRSwitzerlandswiss Francmonetary pluralitysocial currency
spellingShingle Guillaume Vallet
Le WIR en Suisse : la révolte du puissant ?
Revue de la Régulation
WIR
Switzerland
swiss Franc
monetary plurality
social currency
title Le WIR en Suisse : la révolte du puissant ?
title_full Le WIR en Suisse : la révolte du puissant ?
title_fullStr Le WIR en Suisse : la révolte du puissant ?
title_full_unstemmed Le WIR en Suisse : la révolte du puissant ?
title_short Le WIR en Suisse : la révolte du puissant ?
title_sort le wir en suisse la revolte du puissant
topic WIR
Switzerland
swiss Franc
monetary plurality
social currency
url https://journals.openedition.org/regulation/11463
work_keys_str_mv AT guillaumevallet lewirensuisselarevoltedupuissant