Econocentric can be broken in to a couple pieces econo and centric. The word means to buy from the closest source, assuming all other things are equal. In other words, if you have access to let's say furniture, in a retail store, Econocentric would be to shop for the quality and price that is acceptable to you, but then consider where the furniture was manufactured. So let's say you find 3 chairs you like, each does what you need it to do. Chair one is made in China, chair 2 is made in South Carolina, and chair 3 is made in Texas. If you lived in Asia, you would be Econocentric by buying the chair made in China. If you lived in Pennsylvania, you would buy chair 2. And if you were on the West Coast of the US you would buy chair 3.
Why is being econocentric important? My grandfather would probably have said, cause it supports the working man in this country. From an economic point of view, it supports people closer to you. If you lived in Texas, as in our above example, maybe you even had a neighbor who worked for the manufacturer. Assuming you are friendly, isn't it a good thing to support a neighbor or friend? But even farther, doesn't that give that person the ability to spend money they made at work within the community, perhaps even from the company you work with. This goes deeper than "Buy American" because it is buying equal quality at equal price.
It is also how our government should function. Most governments try to protect local jobs by imposing tariffs on imported goods. Which is their prerogative, as long as it is not artificially inflating the real price of the goods. It is a way that government can prevent other companies from polluting the air or treating their people as serfs.
Tariffs should even the field for domestic producers. It is vital to our sovereignty that we have a manufacturing base. How could we have won World War II if not for our production facilities? Think German companies would have sold us bullets or planes? It is OK if there needs to be conversion of plants, like during that war, to shift from consumer to military production, but to not have the plants to convert would be catastrophic.
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But what of companies headquartered here, that manufacture outside the country? Treat the origin of the products as the way to determine the econcentricity of the purchase. If a shoe company has a plant in India, the product is sold as Indian, even though the company is headquartered here. So Apple's iPhone is from China, that makes it Chinese as far as our discussion here is going. Even though it is developed and designed in California. If Samsung opened an American plant, even though they are not headquartered here, their product would be more econocentric.
Some countries just don't care for their people, their environment, or the benefits of having a thriving manufacturing base, they just care about the money they skim from the top. China today may be the most polluted country in the world, they are killing their citizens, and more, since pollution doesn't stop at the border. Their people are committing suicide from over work and inability to save enough to get out of the cycle. Just as in the 1920s, some American Companies abused their labor. Or even later when companies polluted. We fix our problems, or are in the process, which is why tariffs should be imposed on countries like China that don't. As those countries fix the problems the tariffs should decrease, then the field is equal, and business in both countries can thrive, and consumers will benefit from competition to keep prices down but will not die because of unfair competition.
If you agree with this reasoning, why not lead an econocentric lifestyle? Even if you don't...
Spend Wisely!
This is about the opposite of what an egocentric person would do.
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