That economic rationality is one of the fundamental principles of an economic theory called comparative advantage. Basically the idea is that it's not in your economic interest to produce for your own needs, it's in your economic interest to specialize in what you're best at and then export it. I have to say, we really need to examine this thinking in the light of the fact that this theory was developed at the same time as colonialism and slavery. Traders and merchants in the UK when this started were benefiting enormously by putting people onto giant custom plantations and getting them to specialize for trade, but in actual fact it's a very dubious concept.
And I want to be careful here to when talking about self-reliance. It's a big mistake to say that we should all go out onto the land and try to produce everything that we need. There is definitely a role for a certain degree of specialization. There is a role for trade, trade has always existed and been a part of society that has existed forever.
We really do have to start looking at comparative advantage in a different light. Economists are still completely wedded to it. I have spoken to enough economists to know that they simply aren't looking at the real world. There isn't a voice from the grassroots that says, "Wait a minute, we're importing and exporting the same thing." Economists don't even acknowledge that that's even going on. And I'm afraid that it's becoming more and more difficult to stop this madness because the records of import and export are kept more and more by the corporations by themselves.
What is the most important work that your group is doing to promote localization?
I think the most important thing that we've done and will continue to do is to help increase awareness within the progressive and environmental movements. And that's still relatively rare. Because those who do understand usually want to get on with action. There isn't enough attention paid to the framing, or the think-tank work for decentralization and localization. The political left is realizing that it didn't pay enough attention to the think-tank work, where the political right did. But what I'm talking about is something that really transcends left and right. We need to look at the economy in a broader way, broader because it takes a global point of view, but also broader because it gathers the social, economic, and environmental issues in one frame, rather than in fragmented compartments, and I think that's a key.
