2023 Volume 29 Pages 71-86
This paper examines how local finance can contribute to the development of sustainable local communities, using the Higashiomi Sanpo-yoshi Fund as a case study. According to Parsons and Smelser（1956）, at the boundary of economics and politics lies the phenomenon of credit. In particular, discussing local finance essentially means discussing local governance through credit, making it an important research topic in environmental sociology.
The Higashiomi Sanpo-yoshi Fund, established in 2017, has consistently operated with an endogenous issue awareness, despite its strong ties to local government. It has developed an extensive financing menu, which includes social impact bonds and the utilization of dormant deposits, and has provided support for promising ventures, such as an innovative wooden block manufacturing company. The significance of the fund lies in altering the flow of money, which has traditionally been concentrated in taxes, during a process of modernization, and restoring the social function of credit within the local community by re-establishing connections.
In the future, environmental sociology will need to investigate the social impact of such local finance and work to clarify its significance and challenges.
