Shops and the city

Arbeitspapier

We report three findings: (1) Using evidence from chain bankruptcies and data on 12-18 million establishments per year, we show that large retailers produce significant positive spillovers. (2) Local governments respond to the size of these externalities. When a town's boundaries allow it to capture a larger share of retail spillovers, it is more likely to offer retail subsidies. (3) These subsidies crowd out private-sector mechanisms that also subsidize large retailers, such as shopping malls. These facts provide powerful evidence of the Coase theorem at work and highlight a concern for local development policies even when externalities can be targeted.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: AEI Economics Working Paper ; No. 2014-03

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft
• Subject: subsidies ; retail

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Veuger, Stan ; Shoag, Daniel
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
• (where): Washington, DC
• (when): 2016

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/280515
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET