Sol Price and Sam Walton changed retail in the twentieth century. Price changed retail by combining knowledge he assembled from real estate law and the firms he observed to find creative ways to innovate in discount retail. Walton, too combined and redeployed knowledge-in some cases, the...

Sol Price and Sam Walton changed retail in the twentieth century. Price changed retail by combining knowledge he assembled from real estate law and from the firms he observed to find creative ways to innovate in discount retail. Walton too combined and redeployed knowledge—in some cases,...

This essay explores the relationship between commerce and culture in the context of the recent debate over the social effect of Wal-Mart. In spite of much public debate, little is known about how Wal-Mart affects values. Using data collected from multiple sources, we show there is little...

Using several case studies and data from the Economic Freedom of the World annual report and from the CIRI Human Rights Data Project, we estimate the effect of human rights abuses on economic liberalization. The data suggest that human rights abuses reduce rather than accelerate the pace of...

Corruption supposedly reduces economic development by creating an uncertain contracting environment and by preventing the state from efficiently providing public goods and correcting externalities. However, corruption can be efficiency-enhancing in countries with relatively little economic...

This paper examines the effect of Walmart Supercenters, which lower food prices and expand food availability, on household and child food insecurity. Our food insecurity-related outcomes come from the 2001-2012 waves of the December Current Population Study Food Security Supplement. Using narrow...

This paper examines the effect of Walmart Supercenters, which lower food prices and expand food availability, on household and child food insecurity. Our food insecurity-related outcomes come from the 2001-2012 waves of the December Current Population Study Food Security Supplement. Using narrow...

Prior research shows grocery stores reduce prices to compete with Walmart Supercenters. This study finds evidence that the competitive effects of two other big box retailers - Costco and Walmart-owned Sam's Club - are quite different. Using city-level panel grocery price data matched with a...