In
hard-hit Spain, bartering becomes means of getting by
With
two small children and no income for the past two years, Antonio
Delgado, 44, says things were so bad he had considered taking his
life.
20
February, 2013
Then
a few months ago, Delgado found out about a group that rents small
parcels of farmland cheap near his town of La Rinconada in southern
Spain. Now he' s bringing home boxes of tomatoes, onions, peppers,
lettuce, zucchinis and pumpkins. But he is not selling them.
Delgado
and others are bartering, or trading, their way through a recession
that has lasted years and left more than a quarter of the workforce
unemployed. Tens of thousands of households have no wage earners, but
they have skills and time on their hands to do work that can be
traded for things they need but have no money to buy.
"I
had no clue about agriculture," Delgado said. "But this has
changed my life."
Banker
Julio Gisbert, author of the book and blog Living Without a Job, says
Spaniards are doing what makes sense in these tough times.
"It
is possible to live without a job, and that doesn't mean living
without working," Gisbert says.
Trading
produce for other services and merchandise is one of the many
unconventional ways the Spanish are making ends meet in what has been
described as the new "sharing economy" that has developed
here since the economic crisis hit more than four years ago.
According
to the Spanish government, more than half a million families have no
income. The unemployment rate has climbed to 26%, but among young
workers it is as astonishing 55%.
The
deepest economic crisis in Spain's modern history is rooted in a
housing boom financed by cheap loans to builders and home buyers who
went bust. Homes were not worth what was borrowed to buy or build
them.
Spain
borrowed to lend the banks money to survive, but that put the
national government in a budget deficit. Regional governments that
spent budget surpluses in boom years were forced to end public
spending and cut benefits and jobs, hobbling economic growth. The
economy, which grew 3.7% a year on average from 1999 to 2007, has
since contracted at an annual rate of 1% since.
With
few jobs and no disposable income, bartering and other ways of
exchanging goods and services are increasingly seen as good
alternatives.
Some
Spaniards are using so-called time banks to "deposit" time,
knowledge and skills and trade them for things they need. All
services have the same value, whether it is one hour of teaching a
foreign language or one hour of cleaning house.
Teresa
Sanchez, 55, is part of the Time Bank in Valladolid in western Spain.
She has deposited offers of Japanese language classes, massage and
company for the elderly. In return, she has received English lessons,
appliance repairs and haircuts for her son.
"I
first joined because I like the idea of people helping each other as
it used to be long ago, but it is true that it is nice economic
help," said Sanchez. "The world would work better without
money."
The
number of time banks in Spain has doubled to 318 in the past three
years, according to the Association of Time Banks. SocialCar.com
allows people to rent their private cars to other individuals while
JoinUp Taxi makes it easy for people to share taxis to the same
destination. Nolotiro.org ("I Won't Throw It Out") allows
people to give away things they don't need anymore, such as clothing
or tools.
Mi
Huerto Compartido (My Shared Garden) allows land owners to "lend"
ground in exchange for part of the harvest. And Truequebook.es users
barter school books and other goods for children.
Delgado
got his plot of farmland from My Harvest Ecological Gardens, which
rents 540-square-foot parcels of land for $40 a month. He works the
land 20 hours a week and exchanges produce with other small farmers
so he can get the wide variety of food his family needs.
Besides
the cybermarket places, nearly 100 bartering markets have appeared in
Catalonia alone, according to Intercanvis.net, a site that tracks the
bartering economy in this northeastern region of Spain.
"The
main reason why people start using these sites is economic, whether
it is to save money, make money or get goods or services without
money," said Albert Canigueral, editor of
ConsumoColaborativo.com, Spain's biggest site on the sharing economy.
"However, once people have tried them out a couple of times,
their mentality changes and they start looking at alternatives to
traditional shopping as their only option."
Unlike
other European countries, where thrift shops thrive, or in the United
States, where garage sales are common, Spaniards have always been
reluctant to buy used goods. In fact, just a few years ago, it would
have been unimaginable to hear Spaniards boast over their newest
second-hand acquisition.
"In
Spain, those who buy things that have been used carry the stigma of
not being able to buy brand new stuff," explained Joana Conill,
a researcher of alternative economic cultures at Universitat Oberta
de Catalunya.
The
crisis and social media are changing people's habits and perceptions
so "the attachment of people to objects is diminishing,"
said Jordi Griera, president of the Institute for Management and
Human Values in Barcelona. He and others says that the economic
crisis has also brought Spanish society closer together in a positive
way.
"The
sharing economy is the gate to a cultural change in which people
rediscover the power of getting connected with other fellow citizens
not only to consume, but also to produce for each other, educate each
other, finance each other," said Canigueral.
BarcelonActua
is a case in point. More than 7,000 people participate in this local
"favor bank" where people help others without necessarily
expecting anything in return. There is no control over who gets or
gives what — everything is based on good faith.
Anna
Daura, 49, of Barcelona, posted on the organization's website
requesting someone to help her clean out an apartment she owned that
had been nearly destroyed by the previous tenant. She had lost her
job a few weeks before and had little money to pay for the job.
Minutes after posting her ad numerous people responded that they
would help "for no money."
A
few days later, a dozen people went to her apartment with "incredible
energy" and left it spotless, she said.
"Nothing
like this had ever happened to me," Daura said. Grateful for the
help, she is now counseling other members of the network on how to
start a business, her particular expertise.
Laia
Serrano, the economist who founded BarcelonActua a year ago, says
that it will be people power that fixes Spain, not the government.
"I
am convinced that the solution to this crisis will be from the bottom
up," she said. "It is necessary, though, that people
realize it."
Rocio
Avila, 41, did. She lost her job two years ago and only has the $800
a month her ex-husband gives her to support their two children. When
her boiler broke a few days ago, she posted that she needed help to
repair it.
"Someone
who didn't even know me offered to give me the $260 I needed for a
new one," said Avila, in tears. "Of course this helped me
financially but also emotionally — meeting these people is also a
gift."
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