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Does Wal-Mart Cause an Increase in Anti-Poverty Expenditures?

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  • Michael Hicks

Abstract

type="main"> This article addresses the role of Wal-Mart Store entrance in changing expenditures on federal and state anti-poverty transfers in the United States. Using a panel of the conterminous 48 states, correcting for time and spatial autocorrelation and local government mix and policy changes. I find that the number of Wal-Marts and their employment share in the retail sector have no impact on food stamps or AFDC/TANF expenditures. In models that account for retail employment share a 1 percent increase in the Wal-Mart's share reduced AFDC/TANF expenditures by 3.3 percent. I find that Wal-Mart does increase Medicaid expenditures by roughly $898 per worker, which is consistent with other studies of the Medicaid costs per low-wage worker across the United States.

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  • Michael Hicks, 2015. "Does Wal-Mart Cause an Increase in Anti-Poverty Expenditures?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(4), pages 1136-1152, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:96:y:2015:i:4:p:1136-1152
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ssqu.12170
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    12. Russell S. Sobel & Andrea M Dean, 2008. "Has Wal‐Mart Buried Mom And Pop?: The Impact Of Wal‐Mart On Self‐Employment And Small Establishments In The United States," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 46(4), pages 676-695, October.
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    14. Stephan J. Goetz & Anil Rupasingha, 2006. "Wal-Mart and Social Capital," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1304-1310.
    15. Hicks, Michael J. & Wilburn, Kristy L., 2001. "The Regional Impact of Wal-Mart Entrance: A Panel Study of the Retail Trade Sector in West Virginia," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 31(3), pages 305-313, Winter.
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    1. Michael J. Hicks, 2006. "Transportation and infrastructure, retail clustering, and local public finance: evidence from Wal-Mart's expansion," Regional Economic Development, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Oct, pages 100-114.
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    3. Gian-Claudia Sciara & Kristin Lovejoy & Susan Handy, 2018. "The Impacts of Big Box Retail on Downtown: A Case Study of Target in Davis (CA)," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 84(1), pages 45-60, January.
    4. Donald Vandegrift, 2016. "The effect of Walmart and Target on property tax rates," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 309-327, October.

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