Friday, February 20, 2009
Rare times often elicit rare measures. It is clear our college years apply.
We may be in the midst of one of the country’s most pronounced recessions, but it is far from our first or last. If history is any indication, we will recover only to find ourselves dealing with another economic mess — say in 2040.
And with exorbitant bailout and stimulus packages in Washington, and Kansas lawmakers using state employee paychecks and income tax refunds as political pawns, clearly fresh ideas will forever be welcome in dealing with economic plights at home and abroad.
One such thought occurred to me two weeks ago between bites of an elk burger downtown at Local Burger.
“This burger is delicious,” I thought, “and it’s healthier than the diabetes-inducing patties at McDonald’s to boot. All of its ingredients are grown and harvested locally, so could this concept be further expanded to help cure some of our local economy’s ills?”
Going local is often inspired by ecological concerns, but another “green” was on my mind that day. Did that burger represent an example of untapped economic potential?
Local Burger owner Hillary Brown’s entrepreneurial spirit has led the restaurant to grow during its more than three and a half years. Community building and transparency and accountability in food production are among her top aims, but she does see a possibility for prosperity should more Lawrence businesses follow suit, she said.
“There is so much potential,” Brown said. “If regions focus on what they do best and create the best products with them, then there will also be an increase in ecotourism.”
Another theory often attached to buying local is that, theoretically, if the stars aligned and we all purchased local products, producers will in turn reinvest those earnings into the local economy. Alas, with all theories nothing is guaranteed and we are more likely to find legislation pushing protectionist measures in the near future to attempt to save jobs and boost local economies.
“If local residents choose to consume more services locally, then this will indeed expand the local economy,” said Joshua Rosenbloom, professor of economics. “If, however, the idea is to restrict people’s choices to force them to buy more goods locally this will raise costs and result overall in a loss of well being.”
How then can we prevent protectionist measures but also boost our local community’s well being? And how can we boost our local economy while at the same time continuing to encourage a global market — one in which foreign companies set up shop here thus creating more American jobs?
Localism is not to be discouraged, yet those who choose to exclusively employ local resources comprise a small portion of the population — their benefits are often a sense of personal well being rather than a true boost to the community’s economy.
Though the majority of us students can do little to sway anybody on Capitol Hill, as consumers we can do our part around Campanile Hill. If we choose to buy anywhere from 10 to 50 percent (or more) of our supplies locally, we will supplant those who do so exclusively, giving local merchants an extraordinary boost and increase the chances that they do reinvest this money at home.
We still yet have the potential to play a role in helping grow our community without the need for bureaucratic imposition.
— Montemayor is a Mission junior in journalism, political science and economics.
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Comments
Montemayor: Looking for economic boosts in our backyard
This is a thoughtful, well written letter. I refuse to read the Journal World because the writing is just not as through or good as the Kansan. We are so individual and different that for some of us buying locally is just not an issue we are all that interested in. There will always be enough shoppers who prefer to go to specialty shops to keep them going.
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