The Nation magazine in the US has published a great piece in its June 13, 2011 printed edition, entitled The New Economy Movement. The article presents a good overview and draws together various strains of the new economy.

It is also worth mentioning that Alberta-based Live Local is a member of BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) and a social enterprise that is very much a part of this “new economy”.

I was lucky enough to be asked to give a TEDx talk in Edmonton in 2011.

Here is a link to the Talk

I was at a meeting in Austin, Texas several years back when I asked this question:

“Why would I pay more for a book at a local bookstore, when I can get exactly the same book online for way cheaper?”

Little did I know, I was asking Steve – the owner of BookPeople in Austin. He had been involved in this study a few years earlier and he generously took the time to explain the economic impacts of local business to me.

The study, entitled Economic Impact Analysis: A Case Study – Local Merchants vs. Retail Chains, was done by Civic Economics and is one I reference often.

Food security is an important concept and can be looked at three ways:

• Household food security – in our country, household food insecurity is usually a result of poverty;
• Regional food security – insecurity is usually an issue of lack of farmers, or infrastructure to support a regional food system;
• National food security – a country’s ability to feed itself – this insecurity results from either a lack of farmers, or farmers do not grow diverse crops, everyone grows corn, canola or wheat for the export market, and over dependence on food imports.

I like to use this video to explain national food security. (Watch for the dancing cows.)

The Missoula Coyote Choir inspires kids to step away from the TV and the electronic toys and gets them singing about the planet. Here, the kids are singing about growing your own food, to the tune of the Bee Gees Staying Alive.

Despite all the talk of “shopping local”, my first suggestion is we need to shop less. And when we do shop – Shop Local.

Annie’s video clearly shows how all this “stuff” is killing our planet.  

On May 5, 2011 I had the opportunity to give a short presentation on local business to the Edmonton International Airport (EIA) annual meeting.

Here’s what I said: 

I am very excited about a new study entitled “Does Local Firm Ownership Matter?” by David Flemming and Stephan Goetz.

Their study clearly shows that if you want to increase per capita incomes, the only kind of business that does that is resident-owned small businesses. This is one of the first papers that clearly connects local business with measurable economic development benefits.

In the words of the authors:

“Subject to the caveat that the 2000-2007 period was unique in American economic history, results presented are remarkably robust in terms of the positive link between small firms that are locally owned and per capita income growth. Medium and larger firms appear to have the opposite effect, especially when they are not locally owned. These include big-boxes as well as other chain and nonchain operations that are owned by individuals who are not also residents of the community. Although these types of firms may offer opportunities for jobs, as well as job growth over time, they do so at the cost of reduced local economic growth, as measured by income. Small-sized firms owned by residents are optimal if the policy objective is to maximize income growth rates.”