Psychologist Angels Corcoles recently taught a seminar about self-empowerment for women, and when she finished the organizers handed her a check with her fee. The amount was in hours, not euros.

But Corcoles didn't mind. Through a citywide credit network that allows people to trade services without money, the 10 hours Corcoles earned could be used to pay for a haircut, yoga classes or even carpentry work.

At a time when the future of the euro is in doubt and millions are unemployed or underemployed with little cash to spare, a parallel economy is springing up in parts of Spain, allowing people to live outside the single currency.

In the city of Malaga, on the country's southern Mediterranean coast just 80 miles from Africa, residents have set up an online site that allows them to earn money and buy products using a virtual currency. The Catalonian fishing town of Vilanova i la Geltru has launched a similar experiment but with a paper credit card of sorts. It implements a new currency worth slightly more than the euro when it is used at local stores.

In Barcelona, the country's second-largest city after Madrid, the preferred model is time banks, which allow people to trade their services in hours without the involvement of money.

"This is a way for people who are on the fringes of the economy to participate again," said Josefina Altes, coordinator of the Spanish Time Bank Network.

Similar projects are popping up in Greece, Portugal and other euro-zone countries with troubled economies.

While each social-money project has its own accounting rules, the basic concept is the same. You earn credits by providing services or selling goods, and you can redeem the credits with people or businesses in the network.

Many of the time banks operate like real banks - with individual accounts, ledgers, checkbooks and, in many cases, even auditors. Some conduct transactions with physical checks and are overseen by a secretary who keeps track of deposits. Others exist solely on the Internet.

To read the complete article, see:In Spain, financial crisis feeds expansion of a parallel, euro-free economy(www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/in-spain-financial
-crisis-feeds-expansion-of-a-parallel-euro-free-economy/2012/08/27/53ed3552
-e00f-11e1-a19c-fcfa365396c8_story.html)

To read the complete article, see:Equitable Labour Exchange note worth 10 hours work(www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/cm/e/
equitable_labour_exchange_note.aspx)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:LABOR EXCHANGE NOTE INFORMATION SOUGHT(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n51a08.html)

To read the complete article, see:Akron, Ohio 1897 Labor Exchange Note 5/100(www.currencyquest.com/item.php?item_id=1571&category_id=209)