> Date: Fri, 31 Jan 97 9:43:44 EST
> To: <SANET-MG@ces.ncsu.edu>
> From: <WLockeretz@infonet.tufts.edu> (Willie Lockeretz)
> Subject: Advantages of local food systems
> Andy Fisher lists among the advantages of a community food system the
> "recycling of local dollars into local economies." This point has been made
> often, for example to support local currency schemes.
>
> However, I question whether recycling money locally is necessarily an
> admirable thing. Clearly, it serves the self-interest of the local residents
> (i.e., when your local economy thrives, you benefit economically too). But is
> that a justification for preferentially spending your money locally? (Here I
> am not dealing with the other arguments offered on behalf of community-
> oriented economic systems, such as better chances for controlling how things
> are produced.) Suppose your local economy is already doing well -- your
> community is downright rich. Couldn't one argue that it is better to target
> your spending to places that need it more because of poverty, unemployement,
> and so forth? These could be elsewhere in the country, or -- dare I say it? --
> in another country. (Granted, existing mechanisms of international trade
> typically siphon off most of the benefits that you hoped would go to the
> people who need them the most, but alternatives such as Fair Trade could deal
> with this problem.)
>
> In short, is "let's look after our own" a morally valid principle for making
> spending choices if one is concerned with issues of economic justice and such?
>
> William Lockeretz
> Tufts University
>
>