Is Wal-Mart Good for the Economy?

Debate Question: Is Wal-Mart Good for the Economy? Yes. Wal-Mart is now the largest grocer, largest retailer, largest corporation in the world. "If Wal-Mart was a nation, it would have a bigger economy than 80 percent of the world's countries"(Singer and Mason). About "138 million people go to one of Wal-Mart's 5,000 stores in the United States and nine other countries", and purchase more than $300 billion every year (Singer and Mason). With a 1.6 million global workforce, Wal-Mart has become the biggest private employer "in the United States, as well as in Mexico and Canada"(Singer and Mason). "Wal-Mart already has 11 percent of all U.S. Grocery store sales," and "by 2013 that figure is likely to rise to 21 percent"(Singer and Mason). As a big corporation, Wal-Mart insists on providing "everyday low prices". The affordable prices for families, which are offered by Wal-Mart, generates "significant savings for consumers on their grocery, apparel, and general merchandise spending, and the redirected spending from the savings" also creates a lot of jobs (LAEDC). All of the above facts shows that Wal-Mart is good for the economy and makes a great contribution to the society. First of all, Wal-Mart Supercenters provide a "substantial cost advantage relative to traditional supermarkets, based on careful supply chain and inventory management, volume discounts, and lower labor costs"(LEADC). As a result, Wal-Mart offers lower prices on groceries than traditional grocery market chains. For example, "according to a UBS-Warburg study, Wal-Mart has grocery prices 17 to 20 percent lower than other supermarkets"(Singer and Mason). In "Consumer Benefits from Increased Competition in Shopping Outlets: Measuring the Effort of Wal-Mart.," an excerpt from Journal of Applied Econometrics, Hausman and Leibtag claim that in 2006 "prices for various food items in Wal-Mart were typically 5-48% less than prices for the same product in conventional supermarkets"(Irwin and

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