 Bridges into Work? An Evaluation of Local Exchange and Trading Schemes (LETS)Colin Williams, Theresa Aldridge, Roger Lee, Andrew Leyshon, Nigel Thrift and Jane Tooke Policy Studies, 2001, vol. 22, issue 2, 119-132 Abstract: Recently, the policy community has been paying particular attention to Local Exchange and Trading Schemes (LETS) as potential bridges into work for the unemployed. Up until now, however, there has only been piecemeal evidence on whether LETS are effective in this regard. In this paper, therefore, the full results of the first comprehensive evaluation of LETS are reported. In order to feed into the 'evidence-based policy-making' process, we evaluate whether LETS are effective first, as bridges into employment, second, as bridges into self-employment and, third and finally, at building reciprocal exchange networks. Our finding is that although LETS provide an indirect bridge into employment by improving employability, they are most effective as seedbeds for the development of self-employed business ventures and as vehicles for facilitating exchange beyond employment. For LETS to become more effective bridges into work for a wider range of the unemployed, nevertheless, a number of barriers to participation need to be tackled. The paper concludes by outlining how this could be achieved. Date: 2001 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:cposxx:v:22:y:2001:i:2:p:119-132 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Policy Studies is currently edited by Toby James More articles in Policy Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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