The author and co-director of the Institute for Policy Studies spoke in Cooperstown last week about building self-reliant, sustainable local economies in the age of globalization.

His ideas make sense.

A community should look to itself to provide as many of the goods and services it needs. A strong local economy benefits everyone in the community.

Some of what Shuman proposes would require rethinking how we now approach economic development, but at least one aspect of building a sustainable local economy is easy - local purchasing.

The idea of shopping locally is an important one, one which all county residents should fully embrace. But not just when its time for the annual Christmas gift-giving onslaught.

Trying to maximize the number of dollars which remain in Otsego County is the right approach, for a number of reasons.

It stimulates the local economy. Those dollars travel through the economy and pass in and out of the hands of your friends and neighbors and, eventually, back through your hands. It is the economic multiplier Shuman talks about. And the more times those dollars are spent and respent locally, the higher the multiplier.

The multiplier effect was how those milk dollars generated by dairy farmers were always so important in driving the local economy and why they are missed so much now. Studies indicated that each dollar the farmer spent in town was respent in town seven times.

Local purchasing also generates sales tax revenue. It may not sound like much more than pocket change, but it adds up in a hurry. Cross the county line and that money is lost.

It's even environmentally responsible. Travel fewer miles, burn less fuel.

Most importantly, it makes you a part of the solution.

If we want a sustainable, self-reliant local economy, it is up to each of us to do our part to create it. We shouldn't be sitting around waiting for the next economic development package to come down the pike.

Even the most cursory examination of the effects of shopping locally would reveal numerous benefits. A full-scale analysis of what happens as those dollars circulate repeatedly would make so compelling a case for shopping locally that no one could deny it.

Shuman is correct. Buying locally is a simple concept that can have a far-reaching impact. It requires no start-up capital, no state or federal grants, no staff or office space - just a healthy dose of common sense applied to your purchasing decisions.