The Emergence of Digital Socio-Municipal Currencies: An institutional change perspective of the Arariboia coin's case
Autor(es)
Cash transfer policies have become an important instrument for poverty alleviation and combating the effects of crises. Among many recent initiatives, digital community currencies are promising tools to operationalize these programs by municipalities. This paper investigates if there was an institutional change in cash transfer public polices with the adoption of a digital community currency issued by the municipality of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, a recent phenomenon that we call “digital socio-municipal currency”. We drew on process tracing methodology combined with a theoretical lens of the theory of gradual institutional change. Our preliminary analysis indicates a gradual change in cash transfer policies and the central role of E-Dinheiro Institute.