Buying local

Entreaties by advocates of the buy local movement (“localists”) contain three major themes which leverage these feelings. First, buying local “keeps money in the community.” You might spend a little more, or have a smaller selection, but the money you spend is less likely to “escape” to some faceless out of state corporate headquarters. Second, buying local is environmentally responsible. Shipping products around the globe uses up “too much energy,” produces carbon dioxide emissions and generates wasteful packaging. Third, local products are safer products. How can we be sure that asparagus from 3,000 miles away is non-toxic, or that toys produced in China are not lethal?


It is not clear what the notion of a local product is, however. Think about where the raw materials come from, where do the performers and workers get trained, etc. Self-support is the road to serfdom. Buying local doesn't make sense because there is no clear notion what local products is.The bigger point is that asking all of the residents of your community to buy local is asking you and your neighbors to make everything by and for yourselves. You will have to make your own lawn-mowers, newspapers, milk, machines, textbooks, etc. and sell them only in your community.


The purpose of the division of labor is to make a smaller quantity of labor produce a greater quantity of output. Since more is able to be produced, each individual can now exchange the fruits of her labor for more of the other goods and services that she desires. Wealth expands rapidly as this specialization and division of labor deepens.The only way to deliver more leisure and work flexibility is to find a way to provide the goods and services we desire in less time.


Small scale production is more costly because it forgoes the gains to be had from producing for large markets. Many products cannot be profitably produced without the possibility of sales to millions of consumers.Fuel and transportation costs make up a miniscule portion of non-local product costs, particularly for food. Many places in the country can grow wheat. But by not doing so in the place where it is economically efficient would dramatically increase the amount of land under tillage and consume far more resources to produce the same amount of wheat as before. The environmental concerns of localists also overlook the fact that eating local can consume fuels too. 

In a market economy, competition is the ultimate protector of workers and consumers. Just as wages are bid up by entrepreneurs competing for talent, product prices are bid down, and quality up, by firms competing for business. To buy local requires a substantial reduction in the number of businesses competing for your labor services as well as for your purchasing dollars – it reduces competition. Company stores and company towns do not evoke pleasant images for most people. Eschewing distant products because of informational concerns is little different than forgoing the use of calculators and cars because you do not understand how to build them.