Does Wal-Mart Cause an Increase in Anti-Poverty Expenditures?

Michael Hicks

Social Science Quarterly, 2015, vol. 96, issue 4, 1136-1152

Abstract: type="main">

This article addresses the role of Wal-Mart Store entrance in changing expenditures on federal and state anti-poverty transfers in the United States.

Using a panel of the conterminous 48 states, correcting for time and spatial autocorrelation and local government mix and policy changes.

I find that the number of Wal-Marts and their employment share in the retail sector have no impact on food stamps or AFDC/TANF expenditures. In models that account for retail employment share a 1 percent increase in the Wal-Mart's share reduced AFDC/TANF expenditures by 3.3 percent.

I find that Wal-Mart does increase Medicaid expenditures by roughly $898 per worker, which is consistent with other studies of the Medicaid costs per low-wage worker across the United States.

Date: 2015
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