Major Flaws Uncovered in Study Claiming Wal-Mart Has Not Harmed Small Business

"We can firmly conclude that there is no evidence that Wal-Mart hashad a significant impact on the overall size, growth, or profitabilityof the U.S. small business sector," asserts a new study published inthe October issue of the academic journal Economic Inquiry. Theauthors of "Has Wal-Mart Buried Mom and Pop?" are Dr. Russell Sobel,chair of Entrepreneurial Studies at West Virginia University, andAndrea Dean, a Kendrick Fellow in WVU's Economics Department.

The study's sensational findings have attracted significantlocal and national media attention, including featured interviews withDr. Sobel in U.S. News & World Report and on Fox television, and blog articles on the web sites of Business Week and the Wall Street Journal. A shorter version of the study ran as the cover story in Regulation, the quarterly magazine of the Cato Institute.

Wal-Mart has also leaped on the study, producing a fact sheetthat highlights key findings and quotes from the study. The fact sheetis being distributed in communities where the company is proposing newsupercenters.

A close inspection of the study by the Institute for LocalSelf-Reliance, however, found fatal flaws. Most remarkable, the study'sauthors apparently lack an understanding of the definitions used by theU.S. Census Bureau and are in fact using the wrong dataset...