“Buy Local”—you see the decal in the store window, the sign at the farmer’s market, the bright, cheerful logos for PEI Local , Think PEI First, Our Prince Edward island, and homegrown versions across Canada. The apparent message is “let’s-support-local-business”, a kind of community boosterism. But buying close to home may be more than a feel-good, it’s-worth-paying-more-for-local matter. A number of researchers and organizations are taking a closer look at how money flows, and what they’re finding shows the profound economic impact of keeping money iclose to home and how the fate of many communities around the country and the world increasingly depend on it.