Should the city be using incentives on Amazon?
Subsidies for Amazon are a pervasive part of a lot of large communities’ economic development strategy, argues this Florida professor. In his analysis he cites our landmark Amazon report.… Read More
Despite promises to hire 1,600, study says Amazon will drain jobs from local economies
ILSR co-director and Amazon report co-author Stacy Mitchell was interviewed for Michigan Radio‘s StateSide radio program with the prompt that Michigan will be receiving jobs from the corporate giant. How should Michiganders feel about offering incentives to a company like them.… Read More
Memo to Politicians: Bargaining for an Amazon Warehouse? Turn the Tables!
The unfortunately common trend of cities shelling out for Amazon by giving them incentives is detailed in this Bloomberg op-ed, in the op-ed they cite our research on the impact of these incentives.… Read More
How Cities Can Save Small Shops
In this story, this CityLab reporter interviews our own policy researcher Olivia LaVecchia on the impact that small businesses offer for their local economies — including the vital economic development potential that they offer for Main Streets across America.… Read More
Grocery union claims Amazon’s $13.7B Whole Foods acquisition will hurt consumers and workers
In the wake of the release of our landmark Amazon Stranglehold report, GeekWire cites our report as a fundamental cog in the story of Amazon’s growing dominance.… Read More
Amazon: A ‘multi-headed beast’ dominating the economy?
In this story by Fox Business, the reporter reached out to Olivia LaVecchia, an ILSR researcher for her thoughts about Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods and the growth of the e-commerce giant in general.… Read More
Visa Boldly Ushers in the Cashless Future (Where Everyone Uses Visa)
Slate‘s Henry Grabar covers a new development by Visa to eliminate cash payments at brick and mortar businesses, here’s our contribution: “According to a 2016 survey of independent retailers conducted by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the median share of revenue spent on swipe fees was 3 percent. Small businesses pay more in swipe fees than they make in profit in many cases, ILSR co-director Stacy Mitchell said, meaning that the banks and payment companies make more money from those businesses than the owners do. Not surprisingly, the survey found strong support for a federal cap on swipe fees, which add up to more than $50 billion a year for U.S. retailers.”… Read More
The Return of Monopoly
Monopoly is ineffable and all around us argues Matt Stoller in The New Republic, Stoller also cites our work and anti-monopoly researcher Stacy Mitchell for her insight.… Read More
How century-old Dunn Hardware thrives in an Amazon world: Independents Week
In ongoing coverage of independent businesses in Cleveland, our own research and our expert Stacy Mitchell is cited in this story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Check out the coverage here.… Read More