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More Cities Pass Laws to Block Dollar Store Chains

More Cities Pass Laws to Block Dollar Store Chains

Charlie Thaxton

September 26, 2019

Fueled by easy cash from Wall Street, two dominant chains are opening thousands of dollar stores across urban and rural communities, and causing economic distress nationwide. Inspired by ILSR’s research, a growing number of cities, including Birmingham, Cleveland, and New Orleans, are now taking legislative action to block new dollar stores and support local grocery store development instead. We take a closer look at this national movement.  READ MORE


Amazon Faces Sharp Questions about Its Market Power before House Judiciary Committee; ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell Testifies

Amazon Faces Sharp Questions about Its Market Power before House Judiciary Committee; ILSR's Stacy Mitchell Testifies

Zach Freed

July 15, 2019

On Tuesday, July 16, Stacy Mitchell will testify on Amazon's market power before the House Judiciary Committee for a hearing on the monopoly power of big tech platforms.  READ MORE


New Report: Walmart’s Monopolization of Local Grocery Markets

New Report: Walmart’s Monopolization of Local Grocery Markets

Stacy Mitchell

June 26, 2019

In 43 metropolitan areas and 160 smaller markets, Walmart controls 50 percent or more of the local grocery market. No other corporation in history has ever amassed this degree of control over the U.S. food system. Our findings provide a stark illustration of the failings of contemporary antitrust policy.  READ MORE


Recent

Matt Stoller on Monopoly Power and Democracy (Episode 83)

Matt Stoller on Monopoly Power and Democracy (Episode 83)

Hibba Meraay

October 17, 2019

Host Stacy Mitchell is joined by Matt Stoller, fellow at the Open Markets Institute, for a conversation about Matt's new book Goliath: The 100 Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy.   READ MORE


More Cities Pass Laws to Block Dollar Store Chains

More Cities Pass Laws to Block Dollar Store Chains

Charlie Thaxton

September 26, 2019

Fueled by easy cash from Wall Street, two dominant chains are opening thousands of dollar stores across urban and rural communities, and causing economic distress nationwide. Inspired by ILSR’s research, a growing number of cities, including Birmingham, Cleveland, and New O  READ MORE


CNN Investigates Amazon in New Documentary Feat. ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell

CNN Investigates Amazon in New Documentary Feat. ILSR's Stacy Mitchell

Hibba Meraay

September 19, 2019

In a new CNN documentary titled “The Age of Amazon,” ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell offers crucial perspective on Amazon’s monopoly power and control over the digital infrastructure of the economy.  READ MORE


Is Congress Starting to Take Antitrust Seriously? (Episode 79)

Is Congress Starting to Take Antitrust Seriously? (Episode 79)

Hibba Meraay

August 22, 2019

Host Zach Freed is joined by ILSR's Stacy Mitchell to discuss the team's most recent efforts in fighting monopolies.  READ MORE


New Survey: Independent Businesses See Major Threats in Amazon, Corporate Concentration

New Survey: Independent Businesses See Major Threats in Amazon, Corporate Concentration

ILSR

August 6, 2019

ILSR's Independent Business Survey offers insight and guidance to elected officials looking to build a more equitable, entrepreneurial, competitive, and dynamic economy.  READ MORE


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In Depth

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


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


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


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


Featured Audio

How Amazon Gets What it Wants: Stacy Mitchell on Chris Hayes’ Podcast

How Amazon Gets What it Wants: Stacy Mitchell on Chris Hayes' Podcast

Charlie Thaxton

January 23, 2019

ILSR co-director Stacy Mitchell appeared on MSNBC host Chris Hayes' podcast, "Why Is This Happening?" The two discuss how Amazon came to dominate e-commerce, its now all-encompassing presence in consumer goods, retail, and cloud computing, and its much bigger ambitions beyond.  READ MORE


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