Why Buy Local essay notes

From Politiurgist

A real basic outline:

• Starting point = Ypsi (and Michigan) in rough economic times, but yes, we do have the ability to make difference, even within our existing household spending.
• Make case that buying local,
  • Has higher local multipliers
  • Builds community
    • Jim from Cafe Luwak and Peter from Bombadill's are tireless volunteers for Ypsi in the way that Starbucks will never be.
    • Matt & Rene Greff vs who? Pabst? :)
  • Pays property taxes - Cross Street Books vs. Amazon?
  • Is large enough in magnitude to make a difference
    • City of Ypsilanti residents have $350 million in annual income
    • Spend $4 million annually on fruits & vegetables - 1% of that is $40,000; compare to farmers' market revenues?
• End point = immediate personal actions
  • buy local week
  • buy local pledge
  • shadow art fair

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Aggregate spending data, for Amanda E, November 2007:

Assumptions:

• City of Ypsilanti 2000 per capita income = $16,692 (factfinder.census.gov)
• Michigan's median household income fairly stagnant since 2000 (Michigan Dept. of History, Arts, and Libraries)
• City of Ypsilanti 2007 estimated population = 21,038, households = 8,729 (http://www.semcog.org/cgi-bin/comprof/profiles.cfm SEMCOG Community Profiles)
• City 2000 median household income = $28,610 (factfinder), very similar to Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2006 2nd quintile median household income = $26,657; use those consumer expenditures factors. (ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/ce/share/2006/quintile.txt)

So:

• City of Ypsilanti aggregate income, 2007 = $16,692 * 21,038 = $351,166,296
• Household average annual expenditures = $30,224 (higher than income - somewhat frightening)
  • 14.3% spent on food = $4,322 per household = $37,727,017 total
    • 1.5% spent on fruits and vegetables = $453 per household = $3,957,379 total
  • 1.0% spent on alcoholic beverages = $302 per household = $2,638,253 total
  • 4.4% spent on entertainment + reading = $1,330 per household = $11,608,313 total
    • 0.8% spent on fees and admissions = $242 per household = $2,110,602 total
  • 3.9% on apparel products & services = $1,179 per household = $10,289,187 total

ABC News, 2005 - "lower income americans" plan to spend $757/household on holiday gifts.

• $757 * 8,729 Ypsi households = $6,607,853

marketing vox, 2007 - '07 holiday shopping expected $637/hh

• $637 * 8,729 =

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Older stuff:

My blog has 60+ posts involving buy local (as two words, not as a phrase).

Interesting selections from among those

• a review of Going Local
• an old "why local" essay
• a critique/discussion of fair warning for fair trade
• a proposal for a local currency tweaked for investment potential
• comment on western states' community owned big boxes
• online tools for increasing usability of social causes

Localist organizations

• Institute for Local Self-Reliance's Why New Rules? page
• Washtenaw's Living Economy Network website (written by Lisa, who really does think in bullet points) and her Why Local list
• American Independant Business Alliance (AMIBA), including a page of studies on impacts of local biz vs. non-local/walmart! Located in Bozeman?!
  • Maine Coast: 53.3 cents - 14.1 cents = 39.2 cents
  • Andersonville: 68 - 43 = 25 cents
  • San Francisco (used Andersonville numbers)
  • Austin: 45 - 13 = 32 cents.
• Local Harvest's Why Buy Local? page, focusing on energy cost of transportation
• Food Routes has two pages, Where does your food come from? and a Why Buy Local faq
• Business Alliance for Local Living Economies has a few articles