“Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer.”
As a founding father of modern economics Adam Smith makes a strong point, which is production for the sake of consumption. Now in the 21-century, I feel we are encountering backlash from following such strong free market ideologies. In this blog, I hope to identify global and domestic trade trends and consumption patterns in the food industry and analyze how these patterns have dictated wealth allocations and affected public health. I view Adam Smith's quote as establishing the status quo and I am here to challenge it.
Political consumerism is a topic worth focusing on because it a strong root of change in consumption patterns. It inherently challenges the status quo by redefining the parameters of the goods now demanded. I briefly got the chance to tackle in my senior economics thesis, but hope to parse through the topic more thoroughly in this blog. My senior thesis is entitled "Questioning Fair Trade Chocolate: An Economic Analysis on Food Price Policy and Alternative Trading Methods," and I will be posting a direct link to it very soon!