Freegan Market Economics

Their avowed disdain for consumer capitalism notwithstanding, the dumpster-diving Freegans do seem to at least appreciate supply and demand… though maybe not quite well enough. If their primary concern is with market demand for products involving animal suffering, after all, why not create positive demand for products like free-range eggs by shopping at places like Whole Foods?

The rationale for not going this route is supposed to be that the less humanely produced products will just go to waste otherwise. But this ignores some of the positive externalities of supporting more humane products. If the consumption of those who care supports the emergence of an organic market in a given neighborhood, it may well come to be patronized by many people who otherwise would simply have gone to an ordinary supermarket. And the "interconnectedness" argument is just loopy. The Freegan quoted in the Sacramento Bee piece argues that the six bucks he spends on some tofu may itself be respent at McDonalds. Well, fair enough. But if he's earning less because he's consuming less, then the money someone might have paid him for his labor might also go instead to the same business. It's not clear how less economic participation makes matters any better from an animal welfare perspective.

For those who think this is something novel, by the way, recall that Abbie Hoffman covered this ground pretty well about three decades ago.