Christmas baskets

Published in El Pais, 15 December 2021.

During  Christmas time, many companies give special Christmas baskets, and it would be good to think about an opportunity, to move the national economy. The other day my husband received a basket from his work. The card had a very special message “these products come from local producers who put a lot of effort into hiring people with a fair salary and using local products that receive added value taking into account the environment and a good taste …”. It reminded me that in Bolivia in 2018 a mobile App was started with the same idea “consume what is ours” so that part of the Christmas bonus is spent only on local products.

Local consumption not only generates income for producers, but it also generates jobs. There are many advantages to mention. First, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are about 85% of the total companies in a country. Second, companies hire people to do the job (1-30 or more employees) who receive a salary and can support their families with it. In addition, if the companies are formalized, they also offer health insurance to the entire family of their workers, so that many can improve their quality of life and health. Many companies that can sell their products can extend their work horizon over time, which helps the worker to have a guaranteed salary for the short or long term. This also helps your mental health and that of your family for the peace of mind of having a “safe” source of income. In addition, companies buy their raw material from other local producers who earn their income and can reproduce this same form of work over time (income = investment = purchase of raw material + workers).

If we motivate local consumption, we motivate the work of people who will be able to spend to buy more local products. Thus, the aggregate of these actions moves the growing national economy. On the contrary, the consumption of imported products eliminates the possibility to add value to raw materials and the hiring of workers is reduced to only the sale of imported goods, which is often only based on commission and not on a salary. The production chain is not complete which is not the case when it is consumed locally.

Many governments in the world know about the importance of SMEs and encourage their creation and maintenance in the economy through different tax, administrative and economic programs such as ” consume what is ours”. As citizens, let’s also think about buying “local”.