Kevin Williams (Yale University)

will give a talk on               

“Distributional Impacts of the Changing Retail Landscape “

Abstract: Countering the prevailing narrative of a "retail apocalypse," we demonstrate expansion of the general merchandise sector from 2010 to 2019 period, driven predominantly by the growth of dollar and discount department stores. Using geolocation data from millions of smartphones, we estimate preferences for specific, identified chains across income groups and geographies. We introduce a novel instrument to address endogeneity of the distance between consumers and retail establishments. We estimate that welfare per trip to general merchandise stores has not substantially declined over time. While consumers have been made worse off from the decline in smaller regional chains, they have benefited from entry of national chains locating closer to their residences.

You can find Kevin’s website here: www.kevinrwilliams.com.

He will be available for individual meetings on the day of the seminar. Giulia and Yihan will coordinate the schedule. Please use the following Google sheet if you want to reserve a slot: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-a4aLpgf7Lknu25by0q-j3af2W1J-giuDA6l7252E44/edit#gid=0.