The Daily GOOD: "Buy Local" Campaigns Actually Work Really Well, What all this amounts to is something called the "local multiplier effect." Spending your money at independent businesses begins a cycle in which those businesses then spend their money at local shops, and so on. Big chains, on the other hand, take local money and send it to corporate headquarters for redistribution, sapping communities of valuable resources and making life hard for small businesses.

Your one-good- thing-a-day email JANUARY 27, 2011 BROUGHT TO YOU BY "Buy Local" Campaigns Actually Work Really Well We've all seen the T-shirt: "Think globally, act locally." It's mildly inspirational, sure, but does it change anything? Actually, yes. Yes it does. For the fourth year in a row, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit research organization, found that independent businesses in cities with an active "buy local" campaign fared 3.5 percent better than those in cities without a push for localism. They also did 4.4 percent more business during the holiday season. What all this amounts to is something called the "local multiplier effect." Spending your money at independent businesses begins a cycle in which those businesses then spend their money at local shops, and so on. Big chains, on the other hand, take local money and send it to corporate headquarters for redistribution, sapping communities of valuable resources and making life hard for small businesses. Sometimes a T-shirt is more than just a T-shirt. Read and discuss Share on Facebook Tweet this Email to a friend Subscribe to the Daily GOOD DID YOU KNOW? 46,660 people get the Daily GOOD. GET IT SHARE IT CURIOUS LATELY? GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward. www.good.is/

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