AMIBA national conference: Vision 2020, Madison, WI, early bird registration until 2/14

With the aim of trying to answer the question, what does a public market look like in the 21st century,  specifically how does it define, manifest and carry out a "public purpose" when there is no longer a need for a system of market buildings to distribute food to urban consumers, I skimmed the book Civic Agriculture.

Community capitalism.  It turns out that Thomas Lyson, the now deceased author who was a professor at Cornell University, was equally interested in a more local and "community oriented capitalism" ("Local Capitalism, Civic Engagement, and Socioeconomic Well-Being," Social Forces, 1998).

One of the antecedents he called attention to was a report by sociologist C. Wright Mills, Small Business and Civic Welfare, which was commissioned by a Congressional Committee in the post-war period.  Needless to say, Congress chose not to endorse the small-business oriented capitalism that Mills outlined.

AMIBA, the American Independent Business Alliance, which is focused on small and independent businesses and not limited to retailers, has an annual conference, which this year is in Madison, Wisconsin, from April 22nd - 24th.

The theme is "Local Economies for the 21st Century."

There is an early bird price for registration through February 14th.

It's pretty timely, considering some of the new books out about concentration and decreasing innovation in the American economy, such as Goliath: The 100-Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy and The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets by Thomas Philippon.

Economic Development vs. Building A Local Economy.  Sometimes I term this in terms of the difference between "economic development" and "building a local economy."  The difference has to do with the economic multiplier effect -- how many "spillover" jobs are created as a result and "where the money goes."

The example is spending at a locally owned store or a chain.  A chain--a supermarket, department store, clothing store, bookstore, etc.--repatriates the money it makes to its headquarters, and for the most part "back office" jobs like accounting, marketing, etc., are located elsewhere, if not at the national headquarters a regional headquarters.

(For example, today Macy's announced it would finally close the original Federated hq in Cincinnati and consolidate its functions in New York and elsewhere--the Macy's chain is the amalgamation of four other chains, which once had hqs in other cities like St. Louis, now closed.)

AMIBA and other organizations have conducted studies in the past showing the difference.

-- Ten Studies of the “Local Economic Premium”

I've written about this in terms of big sports events like the Super Bowl too. While large numbers are bandied about, the reality is that most of the spending is on hotel, travel, and food. Travel spending is captured by airlines and rental car firms. Hotel revenues, exception for minimal numbers of employees (housekeepers, etc.), is repatriated outside of the city as well.