Imagining the Ideal World - Economics and Ecology: United for a Sustainable World - page 149

and supportive of local institutions, such as schools, service organizations,
churches, and local government.
Finally, there is no need to undertake trade missions to sell the product,
because local residents are the targeted market. In fact, the targeted mar-
ket includes the workers, the owners, the investors, and the whole network
of family, friends, and acquaintances of all of the above. Moreover, they all
realize that their purchases keep the local economy healthy, to say nothing
of supporting the people they know and love. Realizing all this, the people
comprising the local market would not consider purchasing that good any-
where else—the firm has a de facto monopoly that will expand organically.
In conclusion, this leads to what may be the most important point. Due to
the lack of need for the extensive monetary expenditures for transportation,
distribution, storage, advertising, and marketing which are necessary for a
national or transnational corporation, the local entity has a cost-based, compara-
tive advantage that cannot be competed away . This is the dream of all commer-
cial operations. It also is the best possible strategy for a healthy environment,
because, among other factors, energy requirements per unit of output will
be much lower. Ironically, a major question that must be answered is as fol-
lows: Can we produce efficiently and effectively on a small-enough scale to
make it happen? This is one question you will never see in a textbook.
Targeting the Strategy
The previous critique of the ways in which economic development has taken
place in communities all over the United States clearly implies some unspo-
ken assumptions about the nature of products and processes. To effectively
pursue and complete the aim of this chapter, we need to flesh out the vision
with some more specifics.
First, a product is chosen, and a business is started to produce that prod-
uct for local markets. The product or products must be basic necessities, as
opposed to more esoteric luxury items or frills. The business must be owned
locally, financed locally, employ local people, and ideally involve well-known
technologies. The perceptive reader will note that the ideas raised in this
short paragraph (e.g., product, finance, business organization, technology,
and market identification, for starters) are just about the whole ball of wax.
Changing what we do in all these areas would constitute, collectively, noth-
ing less than an economic revolution, and thus deserves elaboration.
Choice of Products
Basic necessities must be chosen because the provision of something needed
by everyone is basically recession proof. Economic fluctuations will affect