TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hausman,Jerry
AU  - Leibtag,Ephraim
TI  - Consumer Benefits from Increased Competition in Shopping Outlets: Measuring the Effect of Wal-Mart
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11809
PY  - 2005
Y2  - December 2005
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11809
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11809.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jerry A. Hausman
Department of Economics
MIT, Room E52-271A
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA  02139
Tel: 617/253-3644
Fax: 617/253-1330
E-Mail: jhausman@mit.edu

Ephraim Leibtag
U.S. Department of Agriculture
FRED-ERS-USDA
1800 M Street, NW Rm. N2137
Washingron, DC 20036
Tel: 202-694-5349
Fax: 202-694-5662
E-Mail: eleibtag@ers.usda.gov
AB  - Consumers often benefit from increased competition in differentiated product settings. In this paper we consider consumer benefits from increased competition in a differentiated product setting: the spread of non-traditional retail outlets. In this paper we estimate consumer benefits from supercenter entry and expansion into markets for food. We estimate a discrete choice model for household shopping choice of supercenters and traditional outlets for food. We have panel data for households so we can follow their shopping patterns over time and allow for a fixed effect in their shopping behavior. We find the benefits to be substantial, both in terms of food expenditure and in terms of overall consumer expenditure. Low income households benefit the most.
ER  -