The Korea Local Administration Review

This study investigates the effect of local currency on the local economy amid COVID-19 by analyzing big data on the sales of local stores before and after the launch of the local currency ‘Ontong Daejeon’, which was first introduced in Daejeon Metropolitan City in May 2020. The study administered a survey on the citizens’ satisfaction and conducting a social analysis on ‘Hye An’, the government’s big data common-based system. The results found that the total sales in the city had significantly decreased due to COVID-19, while it temporarily increased after the launch of Ontong Daejeon. However, 80% of the total sales were concentrated only in a few industries, such as general and rest-area restaurants, indicating that small business owners, the self-employed, and the underprivileged were not benefiting from the local currency. On the other hand, 82.7% of the citizens answered that they were satisfied with the local currency. This type of result suggests the potential development of the local currency. Although local currencies have several advantages, it is still necessary to develop improvement measures to provide cashback support, and prevent the imbalanced use of local currencies in limited industries, and distribute the benefits to small business owners and the self-employed located in the urban area.