What If Instead? Podcast

Diseconomies of Scale | Michael Shuman


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Key Concepts & Themes:

  • Pre-Copernican Economics: The central metaphor for the outdated, pre-Copernican economic models that insist on globalization and scale above all else, despite evidence that localized systems are often more resilient and competitive.
  • The "Scale" Fallacy: The conversation challenges the common wisdom that to "scale" a business means to make it as big as possible. Instead, Moose argues for finding the right scale for the right mission.
  • Investment Crowdfunding: A revolutionary shift in securities law that now allows everyday people to invest small amounts of money in the local businesses they love, historically a prohibitively expensive process. In just eight years, it has directed $2 billion to 7,000 companies.
  • The Service Economy: The observation that modern economies have flipped from being goods-dominant to service-dominant (70% of expenditures). This inherently favors local, relationship-based businesses over distant corporations.
  • Comparative Advantage Re-examined: The hosts and Shuman break down David Ricardo's foundational economic theory, pointing out its critical flaws in a world where capital, but not labor, is mobile.
  • BIMBY ("Begin In My Backyard"): A positive reframing of the NIMBY concept, suggesting that global change and innovation are most powerful when they start with local action and problem-solving.
Suggested Reading & Listening
  • Put Your Money Where Your Life Is – Michael H. Shuman
  • The Local Economy Solution – Michael H. Shuman
  • The Main Street Journal
  • Community Economics at Post Carbon Institute
  • Michael Shuman’s Blog

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What If Instead? PodcastBy Alejandro Juárez Crawford, Miriam Plavin-Masterman, ITSPmagazine, Srijan Banik