Posts Tagged ‘economy’

Below are some highlights and action items from our June 22, 2010 Resilient Local Economy Dialogue in Saratoga Springs.

Local Resilient Economy Discussion at Sustainable Saratoga from David Levesque on Vimeo.

What can we do as a Local Economy Subcommittee?

What are things that are local but perhaps overlooked?

1. Support Regional Goods – Is there something manufactured in Albany that we could support
2. Local Bookstore (Tim has mentioned there is a great one in Schuylerville, again, could support #4, awareness)
3. The Chamber supports chains and big box stores, not just local business, but all business. Awareness campaign? How do other Chambers deal with the support for local businesses in light of non-local business presences?

Description:

Some of the questions asked by our Saratoga Springs community during the event include.

• What is a local economy?
• Where are they successful and why?
• How do we nurture one in Saratoga County?
• What is local?
• What is an economy?
• What is sustainable?
• How can the rights of property owners, which are implied in the Constitution, be balanced with the “common good”?
• Are debt-based economies unsustainable by definition?  What is the debt/income ratio of the Population of Saratoga County and how does that compare to other municipalities in NY?
• How would you go about quantifying the well-being of our community? our region? our nation?  our planet?  (alternatives to throughput metrics like GDP)
• Michael Shuman, in his book “Going Local” posits that Import Replacement is a key part of a local economy.  What are we currently importing that we can grow, extract, generate, or build right here?
• What projects can our committee focus on to get results?
• Can you comment on the value of local currencies?
• What happens to Saratoga’s economy if there is no racing industry? What happens if tourism drops off when the Happy Motoring fiesta is over?
• Should we be measuring something else besides money to determine our well being?
• Where do the arts fit into the local economy, and how do we quantify their value to our well-being?
• Modern economics seems fixated on quantification of the amount of money flowing through global markets.  That’s like studying only the human circulatory system and claiming to understand human biology.  Can economists change their perception to include other systems currently categorized as externalities (human intellegence, ecosystem services, natural splendor)?
• Can we estimate the percentage of transactions that occur on a local basis as opposed to those which occur across our local area? (both our spending out of area and out of area people spending here)?
• Do you think that microlending (a la Grameen Bank of founded by Mohammad Yunus) or community-owned banks could help members of the community get a leg up on starting a business or retrofitting their home for energy efficiency?
• What can we each do as individuals and as Sustainable Saratoga?  (move money from transnational banking/investment casinos to locally-owned/operated banks?)
• What is the profit of our region? Overall income minus expenses.

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