The Wal-mart Revolution: How Big Box Stores Benefit Consumers, Workers, And the Economy

by Vedder, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780844742441
• ISBN10: 0844742449
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-15
• Publisher: Natl Book Network

Summary

Wal-Mart is under attack--from labor unions, urban planners, globalization critics, and community activists. Looking at Wal-Mart, the authors review conditions before and after Wal-Mart entered a local market and look more broadly at Wal-Mart's impact on wages, productivity growth and inflation. Vedder and Cox show that the retailer has been a force for good.

Author Biography

Richard Vedder is distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity at Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS	xi
PREFACE	xiv
INTRODUCTION: WAL-MART AND THE BIG-BOX DISCOUNT STORE REVOLUTION	1
Wal-Mart and Its Imitators: Saints or Sinners?	2
The Genesis of the Big-Box Revolution	3
The Economic Impact of Wal-Mart and Other Big-Box Stores	4
What Should We Do About Wal-Mart?	6
PART I: WHY WAL-MART MATTERS	9
1. THE IMPORTANCE OF RETAIL INNOVATIONS	10
The Economic Importance of Retail Trade	11
The Discount Revolution and Consumer Surplus	13
The Supply Side	19
Spillover Effects, or "Externalities"	20
Public Attitudes Concerning Retail Trade in America	22
Conclusions	23
2. WAL-MART AND ITS CRITICS	24
The Criticisms	25
The Intensity of the Rhetoric	27
Who Are the Critics?	31
Tactics of Wal-Mart's Critics: Litigation and Legislative Changes	32
Conclusions	34
PART II: THE WAL-MART REVOLUTION	35
3. A HISTORY OF RETAIL INNOVATION IN AMERICA BEFORE WAL-MART	36
Retailing in America before Wal-Mart	36
Retailing at the Beginning of the Discount Age	42
Conclusions	44
4. THE WAL-MART STORY	46
Retail Trade Growth Since 1965: An Overview	46
Sam Walton	50
The Growth of Wal-Mart	53
Conclusions	65
5. IMITATORS AND INNOVATORS	67
The Rise of Big-Box Stores: Wal-Mart's Competitors	67
Discount Department Stores and Supercenters	70
Membership Warehouses	73
Specialty Big-Box Stores: Home Improvement	74
Specialty Retailers: Consumer Electronics	76
Specialty Stores: Office Supplies	78
Other Specialty Operators	79
The Next Generation of Retailing?	80
Conclusions	81
PART III: WAL-MART: GOOD OR BAD?	83
6. EMPLOYMENT AND WAGE EFFECTS OF DISCOUNT STORES	84
Employment in Retail Trade	85
Employment Effects of Wal-Mart	87
Are Wal-Mart Workers Underpaid?	91
Fringe Benefits	96
Conclusions	98
7. COMPETITION AND COMMUNITIES	100
Some Analysis of Store Openings	100
Findings of Other Scholarly Researchers	107
Wal-Mart and Its Suppliers	114
Conclusions	115
8. WAL-MART AND THE POOR	117
Wal-Mart's Customers	117
Implications for Policy	121
Wal-Mart and Public Assistance	124
Conclusions	125
9. THE DISCOUNT REVOLUTION IN BROADER ECONOMIC CONTEXT	126
Estimating Broader Economic Effects: Some Issues	126
The Big-Box Discount Revolution and Productivity Change	128
Broader Economic Effects: Social Savings of Modern Discount Stores	134
Conclusions	136
PART IV: THE FUTURE OF WAL-MART	137
10. WAL-MART AND THE WORLD	138
The Rise of Big-Box Stores in Europe	138
International Big-Box Firms	141
International Big-Box Specialty Stores	144
International Purchasing by Big-Box Operators	145
International Labor Standards: Better Life or More Poverty?	149
Conclusions	150
11. CRITIQUING THE CRITICS	151
Assessing the Criticisms of Wal-Mart and Other Big-Box Discounters	152
Conclusions	160
12. WHAT SHOULD WE Do ABOUT WAL-MART?	161
Policies Relating to Employee Relations	161
Wal-Mart's Impact on Communities and the Environment	167
Policies Regarding Globalization and Overseas Worker Standards	170
Should Wal-Mart Enter Banking?	171
The Other Side of the Coin: Subsidizing Wal-Mart or Other Stores	171
Leveling the Playing Field: Stop Subsidizing Wal-Mart's Critics	172
Appeasing the Unappeasable: Wal-Mart's Public Relations Campaign	173
The Future of Wal-Mart and Other Big-Box Discounters	176
Conclusions	179
NOTES	181
INDEX	201
ABOUT THE AUTHORS	209