When you spend money at locally owned businesses, it is pretty easy to understand that those dollars directly impact the local economy as they keep local businesses in business. The local multiplier effect is less obvious, but key to keeping our economy strong.
The multiplier effect is the amount of local economic activity that is triggered by the purchase of any one item. Community economics tells us that the more a dollar circulates in a defined region, and the faster it circulates, the more income, wealth and jobs it creates.
Keeping dollars local is an act of reinvestment in your community. Buying local products and services and banking locally keeps money circulating closer to where you spend it. This creates a ripple effect as those businesses and their employees in turn spend your money locally. Corporate chains send most of your money out of town. E-commerce sends dollars directly out of our community weakening our Upper Valley economy. Studies have determined that three times more money stays in the Upper Valley when you Think Local First!
Follow the money and read about how many times your $20 circulates around the Upper Valley creating economic activity by clicking on the image below.
