Wandel durch Handel

Sticking to my astronaut-early schedule, I went for a run around the lake shortly after 5 am this morning, in time to see the ice breaking up and giving way to blue waves. In similar fashion, I still believe that a world in which we trade and interact with each other is better than one of isolation and nationalism. While buying hydrocarbons from kleptocratic elites may not have transformed Russia, and no scorn seems to be spared on Germany for trying, I am confident that broad economic integration will, over time, make peace more valuable and conflict less likely.

As such, I could not help but create some pins that say “Buy Global”. Considering how fervently the “local” is fetishized in late cultural capitalism, these pins have already sparked several interesting conversations. Often, as with food security, few people seem to have ever challenged the assumption that local is better, and only when one prompts them to think about for instance extreme weather events, do they realize that being dependent solely on local agriculture may not be that smart after all. Still, the main reason why we should “buy global” is to facilitate human development abroad, in particular in Africa, while maintaining competitive pressure at home so that we continue to automatize manufacturing processes and do not tie up sparse human capital.