Synopses & Reviews
The activities of Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers have become rallying cries for both sides of the political aisle. This book is aimed at those involved in debates over Wal-Mart's impact on worker wages, labor issues, and health-insurance and land-use policies. The Wal-Mart Revolution provides useful facts about the company, the U.S. retail industry, labor economics, health-care policy, and land-use realities in America today. Economist Richard Vedder and public-private partnerships expert Wendell Cox painstakingly analyze available evidence before concluding that the economic transformation in American retailing which is personified by Wal-Mart has largely been good for Americans and the economy. Wal-Mart's basic business strategies have had a profoundly positive impact on America's productivity, wages, consumer prices, and other key economic variables. Though the book was written without any cooperation from Wal-Mart, Vedder and Cox address several criticisms often lobbed at the company and demolish them one-by-one: Wal-Mart workers are paid fairly given their level of skills and experience, and compared to other retail firms, Wal-Mart employees do well Wal-Mart's fringe benefits health-care coverage, retirement benefits, and more- are similar to those of other retail firms, and very few Wal-Mart workers go without health insurance Big boxes mean big business: communities with new Wal-Mart stores typically enjoy increased employment and incomes after the store opens Wal-Mart benefits the poor, in particular, in the form of lower prices and new job opportunities Attempts to keep Wal-Mart out of communities through zoning restrictions, mandatory health insurance, or special high minimum wages hurt citizens, especially those with lower incomes
Synopsis
A positive analysis of Wal-Mart's contributions to the international economy cites the examples of such companies as Penney's and Woolworth's while identifying how Wal-Mart has favorably impacted employment rates and retail growth. Original.
Synopsis
Wal-Mart is under attack--from labor unions, urban planners, globalization critics, and community activists. The company's detractors argue that Wal-Mart reduces living standards, hurts retail trade, causes unemployment, and relegates Third World workers to poverty. In the Wal-Mart Revolution, Richard Vedder and Wendell Cox examine Wal-Mart's true role in the economy. The authors look briefly at the history of retailing in America and the contributions made by James Penney and Frank Woolworth. Looking specifically at Wal-Mart, they review conditions before and after Wal-Mart entered a local market and look more broadly at Wal-Mart's impact on wages, productivity growth and inflation. Vedder and Cox show that the retailer has been a force for good.