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Dollar Stores Are Targeting Struggling Urban Neighborhoods and Small Towns. One Community Is Showing How to Fight Back.

Dollar Stores Are Targeting Struggling Urban Neighborhoods and Small Towns. One Community Is Showing How to Fight Back.

Marie Donahue

December 6, 2018

Although dollar stores sometimes fill a need in places that lack basic retail services, there’s growing evidence that these stores are not merely a byproduct of economic distress. They’re a cause of it. In small towns and urban neighborhoods alike, dollar stores are leading full-service grocery stores to close. And their strategy of saturating communities with multiple outlets is making it impossible for new grocers and other local businesses to take root and grow.  READ MORE


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The Impact of Dollar Stores and How Communities Can Fight Back (Fact Sheet)

The Impact of Dollar Stores and How Communities Can Fight Back (Fact Sheet)

Marie Donahue

December 6, 2018

National dollar store chains, including Dollar General and Dollar Tree, have seen huge growth over the past decade. These stores are also feeding more Americans than Whole Foods is. New research from ILSR's Community-Scaled Economy Initiative documents the rapid rise  READ MORE


In Op-Ed for Fortune, ILSR’s Charlie Thaxton Details Amazon’s Long History of Gaming the Government

In Op-Ed for Fortune, ILSR's Charlie Thaxton Details Amazon's Long History of Gaming the Government

Charlie Thaxton

November 28, 2018

Tax incentives and subsidies are hastening market concentration. Amazon, which has a long history of securing government giveaways, is a clear example.  READ MORE


On WNYC’s On the Media, Stacy Mitchell Talks Antitrust’s Past and Future

On WNYC's On the Media, Stacy Mitchell Talks Antitrust's Past and Future

Zach Freed

November 21, 2018

ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell appeared as a guest on the WNYC radio program On The Media for a segment entitled “Making America Antitrust Again.” Stacy talked with host Brooke Gladstone about our country’s history of breaking up big corporations, the rise of Amaz  READ MORE


Watch: Panel Discussion on What to Do About Amazon

Watch: Panel Discussion on What to Do About Amazon

Zach Freed

November 21, 2018

ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell recently spoke on a panel focused on how to rein in Amazon’s monopoly power, hosted by the George Washington Institute of Public Policy.  READ MORE


In FTC Hearings, a Few Bright Spots Amid a Pro-Monopoly Status Quo

In FTC Hearings, a Few Bright Spots Amid a Pro-Monopoly Status Quo

Zach Freed

November 2, 2018

The FTC is examining the state of antitrust policy. Many of those invited to testify have reinforced the status quo, but moments of dissent show the consensus is facing an emerging challenge.  READ MORE


Unfair Advantage: In The Sun, Stacy Mitchell Discusses Amazon and the Future of Local Economies

Unfair Advantage: In The Sun, Stacy Mitchell Discusses Amazon and the Future of Local Economies

Charlie Thaxton

October 25, 2018

This month, The Sun magazine features ILSR Co-Director Stacy Mitchell in an extended Q&A about the consequences of Amazon’s tightening grip and what it will take to revive America’s left-behind cities and towns.  READ MORE


In Videos for Bernie Sanders, ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell Explains Amazon’s Monopoly Power

In Videos for Bernie Sanders, ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell Explains Amazon’s Monopoly Power

Zach Freed

October 5, 2018

The two videos have drawn more than 1.8 million views across several platforms.  READ MORE


Want to Strengthen Independent Businesses? Use These Policies (Episode 51)

Want to Strengthen Independent Businesses? Use These Policies (Episode 51)

Nick Stumo-Langer

July 26, 2018

Host Nick Stumo-Langer is joined by researchers Stacy Mitchell and Olivia LaVecchia to discuss their new guide to policy tools that strengthen independent businesses.  READ MORE


In Book Review for Washington Monthly, Stacy Mitchell on “The Truth About Big Business”

In Book Review for Washington Monthly, Stacy Mitchell on "The Truth About Big Business"

Stacy Mitchell

July 24, 2018

In the July-August issue of "Washington Monthly" magazine, ILSR's Stacy Mitchell rebuts a new book's claims that the monopolization of the U.S. economy is a good thing. As she does so, Stacy also mounts a vigorous counter-argument, explaining how economic  READ MORE


New Toolkit Helps Independent Businesses Advocate for Policies that Support the Local Economy

New Toolkit Helps Independent Businesses Advocate for Policies that Support the Local Economy

Marie Donahue

July 17, 2018

When independent businesses meet with their local officials, they help build the mindset that independent businesses matter. A new Local Policy Action Toolkit created by ILSR with the Advocates for Independent Business coalition offers independent business owners and retailers concrete  READ MORE


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Report: Amazon’s Next Frontier: Your City’s Purchasing

Report: Amazon’s Next Frontier: Your City’s Purchasing

Stacy Mitchell

July 10, 2018

Amazon recently secured a national contract that opens the way for billions of dollars in local government spending to shift to the company, but there's been virtually no reporting on the deal. In this new report, we examine the contract and Amazon's push to capture local government spending, and find concerns — including that the contract leaves local governments at risk of being ripped off, and sets Amazon up to expand its monopoly power. We conclude by offering examples of local governments that are choosing to reject Amazon's deal.  READ MORE


Amazon Doesn’t Just Want to Dominate the Market—It Wants to Become the Market

Amazon Doesn’t Just Want to Dominate the Market—It Wants to Become the Market

Stacy Mitchell

February 15, 2018

This cover feature for The Nation looks at how Amazon is a radically new kind of monopoly with ambitions that dwarf those of earlier empires, and what we should do about it.  READ MORE


Report: How Amazon’s Tightening Grip on the Economy Is Stifling Competition, Eroding Jobs, and Threatening Communities

Report: How Amazon’s Tightening Grip on the Economy Is Stifling Competition, Eroding Jobs, and Threatening Communities

Stacy Mitchell

November 29, 2016

Amazon has extended its tentacles across our economy. In this report, we pull back the curtain on the company, and find that it's at the center of increasing inequality and diminishing opportunity, and that it's concentrating power in ways that endanger competition, community life, and democracy. We also examine how public policy should address Amazon's high costs.  READ MORE


How Rising Commercial Rents Are Threatening Independent Businesses, and What Cities Are Doing About It

How Rising Commercial Rents Are Threatening Independent Businesses, and What Cities Are Doing About It

Olivia LaVecchia

April 20, 2016

As the cost of leasing commercial space soars in many U.S. cities, this report examines what's behind the skyrocketing rents and explores six broad policy strategies that cities are proposing to keep space appropriate and affordable for independent businesses.  READ MORE


Monopoly Power and the Decline of Small Business

Monopoly Power and the Decline of Small Business

Stacy Mitchell

August 10, 2016

The U.S. is much less a nation of entrepreneurs than it was a generation ago. In this report, which won an award for antitrust scholarship in 2017, we suggest that the decline of small businesses is owed, at least in part, to anticompetitive behavior by large, dominant corporations. The report presents three reasons to bring a commitment to fair markets for small businesses back into antitrust policy, and concludes by outlining specific steps to do just that.  READ MORE


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