Yglesias on saving local businesses

My model of Matt Yglesias is sort of a Jekyll-and-Hyde model. Some days he is really insightful and compelling and useful in showing how thinking like an economist can further "progressive causes" and other days ... less so.

This is one of his good posts; the point is that if you want to save your local independent book store, what you should do (wait for it ....) is actually buy books there, rather than, say, jiggering local zoning rules to force the landlord to implicitly subsidize the store via a below-market rent or passing around petitions.