Study shows drop in crime rates are less where Wal-Mart builds

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-02/uosc-ssd020714.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
7-Feb-2014
Contact: Peggy Binette
University of South Carolina

Communities across the United States experienced an unprecedented decline in crime in the 1990s. But for counties where Wal-Mart built stores, the decline wasn't nearly as dramatic.

"The crime decline was stunted in counties where Wal-Mart expanded in the 1990s," says Scott Wolfe, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina and lead author of a new study. "If the corporation built a new store, there were 17 additional property crimes and 2 additional violent crimes for every 10,000 persons in a county."

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"There is something unique about the counties that Wal-Mart selects," Wolfe says. "Wal-Mart tended to expand in counties with higher than average crime rates. These counties were more likely see Wal-Mart build even after accounting for crime-related predicators, such as poverty, unemployment, immigration, population structure and residential turnover.

The researchers speculate that much of this relationship occurred because Wal-Mart finds better success building in communities that are less likely to protest the company's arrival.

"Counties with more social capital—citizens able and willing to speak up about the best interests of the community—tend to have lower crime rates," Pyrooz says. "Counties with more crime may have less social capital and, therefore, less ability to prevent Wal-Mart from building."

Once Wal-Mart counties were matched with non-Wal-Mart counties based on crime rates and economic and demographic factors, the researchers found that the retailer's growth stunted what otherwise could have been greater drops in crime.

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Wolfe says it is important to note that study stresses that Wal-Mart does not have a detrimental impact on all counties. In fact, Wal-Mart growth can be beneficial in some communities, particularly those in economic distress, he says.

"The problem, however, is that Wal-Mart is less likely to grow in communities with depressed economic conditions," Wolfe says.