A critical function of our banking system is financing small businesses. But big banks are doing a rotten job of it. At the nation’s largest banks, small business lending has plunged 33% since 2009. Trying to cajole or compel them to do more won’t make much difference because the problem is largely inherent to their scale. Continue reading
Although they control only 21% of U.S. bank assets, small and mid-sized banks provide 54% of small business loans. Continue reading
San Francisco is home to more independent businesses than other big cities, thanks in part to a 2006 law than gives neighborhoods the power to reject “formula” retail stores and restaurants. But the policy has major gaps, which have opened the way for chains to slip into the city. City leaders are now looking to beef up the law. Continue reading
This brief presentation looks at how Walmart could impact local businesses if it’s allowed to expand into urban areas.
ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell was a guest on Your Call on San Francisco public radio station KALW. She joined host Rose Aguilar and Charles Fishman, author of The Wal-Mart Effect, for an hour-long conversation about how Walmart came to dominate the economy and what local business owners and retail workers are doing to counter its market power. Continue reading
Choosing a locally owned business generates almost four times as much economic benefit for the surrounding community as shopping at a chain, a new study has concluded. Continue reading
Most policymakers don’t imagine that their economic development decisions will affect such things as voter turnout or the prevalence of chronic disease. But a growing body of research is finding that scale and ownership of business matter in ways that extend far beyond economic outcomes. Continue reading
In its push to get into urban areas, Walmart is claiming that its stores are actually good for nearby small businesses, at least those that do not compete in the same product lines. But the empirical evidence — including a extensive study published recently in the Journal of Urban Economics — indicates otherwise. Continue reading
Walmart’s history is the story of what has gone wrong in the American economy. Wages have stagnated. The middle class has shrunk. The ranks of the working poor have swelled. Whatever we may have saved shopping at Walmart, we’ve more than paid for it in diminished opportunities and declining income. Continue reading
For years, Amazon has used its size and market power to bully publishers and keep other retailers from competing in the e-book market. And, for years, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has done nothing to constrain Amazon’s abuses or bring about a more competitive marketplace. So it was quite a shock last month when… Continue reading
Your download has begun in a separate window. Please take a minute to help us better understand who is viewing our work by filling out the form below.