Does Wal-Mart Sell Inferior Goods?

Emek Basker

No 805, Working Papers from Department of Economics, University of Missouri

Abstract: I estimate the aggregate income elasticity of Wal-Mart's and Target's revenues using quarterly data for 1997-2006. I find that Wal-Mart's revenues increase during bad times, whereas Target's revenues decrease, consistent with Wal-Mart selling "inferior goods" in the technical sense of the term. An upper bound on the aggregate income elasticity of demand for Wal-Mart's wares is -0.5.

Keywords: Retail; Wal-Mart; Target; Inferior Goods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L81 D12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
Date: 2008-04-29
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:umc:wpaper:0805

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