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Raising the Barcode Scanner: Technology and Productivity in the Retail Sector

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  • Emek Basker

Abstract

Barcodes and barcode scanners transformed the grocery industry in the 1970s. I use store-level data from the 1972, 1977, and 1982 Census of Retail Trade, matched to data on store scanner installations, to estimate scanners' effect on labor productivity. I find that scanners increased a store's labor productivity, on average, by approximately 4.5 percent in the first few years. The effect was larger in stores carrying more packaged products, consistent with the presence of network externalities. Short-run gains were small relative to fixed costs, suggesting that the impediment to widespread adoption of the new technology was profitability, not coordination problems. (JEL J24, L24, L81, O33)

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File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.4.3.1
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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.

Volume (Year): 4 (2012)
Issue (Month): 3 (July)
Pages: 1-27

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Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:4:y:2012:i:3:p:1-27

Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.4.3.1
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Cited by:
  1. Horst Raff & Nicolas Schmitt, 2011. "Manufacturers and Retailers in the Global Economy," Kiel Working Papers 1711, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

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