Barcodes and barcode scanners transformed the grocery industry in the 1970s. I use store-level data from the 1972, 1977, and 1982 Census of Retail Trade, matched to data on store scanner installations, to estimate scanners’ effect on labor productivity. I find that early scanners increased a...

Entry of large ("big-box") stores along with a drastic fall in the number of stores are striking trends in retail. We use a dynamic model to measure the impact of large entrants on productivity, allowing for a controlled productivity process and accounting for prices, local markets, and the...

This paper investigates the determinants of the productivity of independent retail stores in Sweden by focusing on the impact of market size and regional hierarchy while controlling for several store and employee characteristics over time. The analysis utilizes Swedish store-level data for the...

This paper investigates factors explaining firms’ productivity differences in the British retail sector. In particular, using simultaneous quantile regressions, it aims to uncover performance gaps stemming from foreign ownership and multinationality, as well as national scale economies. The...

Barcode scanners were introduced in the 1970s as a way to reduce labor costs in stores, particularly at checkout. This paper is the first to estimate their effect on productivity. I use store-level data from the 1972, 1977, and 1982 Census of Retail Trade, matched to data on store scanner...

We use UK micro data to explore whether planning regulation reduced UK retailing productivity growth between 1997 and 2003. We document a shift to smaller shops, particularly within supermarket chains, following a regulatory change in 1996 which increased the costs of opening large stores. This...

During the past two decades many countries have opened their retail sector to foreign direct investment (FDI), yet little is known about the implications of such liberalization for their economies. Using a unique dataset combining outlet-specific information on global retail chains with a panel...

Firms make investments in technology to increase productivity. But in emerging markets, where a culture of informality is widespread, information technology (IT) investments leading to greater transparency can impose a cost through higher taxes and need for regulatory compliance. This tendency...

Since the mid-nineties, U.S. labor productivity outgrows its European counterpart by a wide margin. Several recent studies have found that this result is brought about by relatively few service industries, where productivity growth has accelerated in the U.S., but not so in Europe. Based on this...