Power and poverty: The distributional consequences of Walmart Supercenter openings

Abstract:

We use restricted-access Panel Study of Income Dynamics data from 1970–2019 to study how Walmart Supercenter openings relate to poverty and employment. Using a stacked difference-in-differences approach, we find that the opening of a Supercenter is associated with a 2.2 percentage point (18%) increase in poverty. This estimate falls to 1.6 percentage points once we account for differences in household formation. The increases in poverty are largest for younger and less-educated adults and are linked to lower wages among employed adults compared to the control group.