What Should We Think About Chain Stores?

Art Carden

Art Carden is Associate Professor of Economics at Samford University’s Brock School of Business and a Senior Fellow with the American Institute for Economic Research. He is also a Research Fellow with the Independent Institute, a Senior Fellow with the Beacon Center of Tennessee, and a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics. His main areas of research are southern economic history, the history and philosophy of economic ideas, and the effects of “Big Box” retailers like Walmart and Costco. He is a regular contributor to Forbes​.com and a number of other outlets.

Are chain stores good or bad? According to Prof. Art Carden, there are reasons to both like and dislike chain stores. The reasons to like chain stores include their ability to lower prices, increase variety, and reduce uncertainty. However, chain stores also do things to dislike such as pursuing special government privileges like subsidies and eminent domain.

Essentially, when chain stores respond to the incentives of the market, they create wealth for society. On the other hand, when chains stores respond to the incentives of the political process, they often produce detrimental effects for society.

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