How might our spending impact the world around us?

13 Aug, 2024

I recently had a very social week.

Each night after work, I met with different friends and family members for a mix of birthday celebrations, catch-ups and dinners at a few restaurants around my city.

At the end of the week, two things felt worn out:

  1. My wallet.
  2. My introverted self.

While staring at the ceiling trying to recover and feeling a pressing guilt for all the money I’d spent, I thought to myself, “I wonder if anybody else is as impacted by my spending as me?”.

The restaurants I went to would have benefitted from me ordering off their menu.

The families that owned the businesses would have been able to use the revenue to order groceries that week.

The local food industry would have been able to continue functioning thanks to the families that purchased from them.

And the local economy would continue to thrive.

“Good,” I thought. “I have loved my neighbour with my burger-eating.”

But are these regular spending habits really helping the world around me?

Spending is an exchange of value

When we purchase something, we are placing value on that item. We’re saying that the value that this item will add to our lives is relative to the amount of money we’re willing to part with to acquire it.

When I purchased a chicken burger with a side of fries, I agreed that the positive eating experience with good friends was worth the money I paid for it.

Our society has collectively grown very accustomed to this exchange and participates in it regularly – from our weekly grocery shop to our largest purchases in life.

However, there is often a much broader value exchange at play too – one that we tend to be less aware of when we tap our cards.

The attribution of worth

We might think we’re simply buying from a business, and what they’re gaining from us is purely revenue. But what they also gain from our purchases are valuable insights that they can benefit from.

The act of buying something is a signal to the business that their products are worth the money that they are charging for them, and that they have a certain amount of value to the buyer. And as a result, they know whether their products are worth continuing to produce.

If I had ordered something from the ‘specials’ menu at one of the restaurants I went to last week, they would have known that the meal is appealing and valuable enough for them to consider keeping on the menu.

But if that meal wasn’t ordered at all for the week that it was on the ‘specials’ menu, the restaurant would know that it would not be valuable for them to keep – and the meal would likely never be seen again.

It’s because of this simple principle that our collective spending habits have the potential to quite literally influence the world around us.

Our spending shapes the world around us.

When we collectively purchase an item consistently, we increase the demand for it – which can drive prices higher.

When we collectively refrain from purchasing an item consistently, we decrease the demand for it – which can result in a lower cost, or even the item fading from existence.

This becomes even more complex when we consider that the opposite result is also true in both cases.

When we collectively increase the demand for the item, the company who makes it might upscale their production to reduce their costs, and this increase in scale can drive prices down.

When we collectively decrease the demand for an item, the company who makes it might scale back their production, and the decrease in scale can increase their costs and drive prices up.

What does this mean for the world, and us?

With our spending, we can positively or negatively contribute to things like:

  • The cost of living in our nation
  • Wages and working conditions across the globe
  • The level of waste added to landfill
  • The success of entire industries

This raises an important question for us as followers of Jesus.

“Is my regular spending helping or harming the world?”

It’s impossible for us to know the full impact of every dollar that we spend, or to somehow control our collective impact as one individual person – especially when our economy is so complex.

But as Christians, we should prayerfully consider the impact that our own spending has on others – both close to home and far away – and choose to use the money that God has placed in our hands to serve and reflect the values of His Kingdom, rather than to solely serve ourselves.

Words by Claire Ince and Stuart Sampson