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Does Wal‐Mart Sell Inferior Goods?

Author

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  • EMEK BASKER

Abstract

I estimate the aggregate income elasticity of Wal-Mart's and Target's revenues using quarterly data for 1997-2006. I find that Wal-Mart's revenues increase during bad times, whereas Target's revenues decrease, consistent with Wal-Mart selling "inferior goods" in the technical sense of the term. An upper bound on the aggregate income elasticity of demand for Wal-Mart's wares is -0.5.
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Suggested Citation

  • Emek Basker, 2011. "Does Wal‐Mart Sell Inferior Goods?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(4), pages 973-981, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:49:y:2011:i:4:p:973-981
    DOI: j.1465-7295.2009.00195.x
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Francisco Galera & Pedro Mendi & Juan Carlos Molero, 2017. "Quality Differences, Third-Degree Price Discrimination, And Welfare," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(1), pages 339-351, January.
    2. Banerjee, Somnath & Stock, Axel, 2018. "Retailer Dominance and Quality Variation: Observations and a Theoretical Explanation," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 94(4), pages 408-418.
    3. Schuetz, Jenny, 2015. "Why are Walmart and Target Next-Door neighbors?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 38-48.
    4. Peralta, Denis & Kim, Man-Keun, 2016. "Big-Box Retailers and Personal Income Growth in the U.S," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235216, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Waldfogel, Joel, 2023. "Holiday gift giving in retreat," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    6. John M. Clapp & Stephen L. Ross & Tingyu Zhou, 2019. "Retail Agglomeration and Competition Externalities: Evidence from Openings and Closings of Multiline Department Stores in the U.S," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 81-96, January.
    7. Steve Muchiri & Mihai Paraschiv, 2019. "Where Do Rebounds Go? Using Balls to Teach Price Elasticity of Demand," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 4(2), pages 60-75, December.
    8. Brea, Humberto & Grifell-Tatje, Emili & Orea, Luis, 2012. "Expectations with Unrealistic Optimism: An Empirical Application," Efficiency Series Papers 2012/01, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    9. Frank Denton & Dean Mountain, 2014. "The implications of mean scaling for the calculation of aggregate consumer elasticities," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 12(3), pages 297-314, September.
    10. Alessandro Bonanno & Stephan J. Goetz, 2012. "WalMart and Local Economic Development," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 26(4), pages 285-297, November.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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