Wal-Mart has invited several economists to table papers on the economic impact of the business. Some interesting findings it seems, both good and bad:

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"The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets," co-authored with Junfu Zhang and Stephen Ciccarella, concludes that total payroll wages per person declined by almost 5 percent where Wal-Mart stores are located due to the company's low wages. The San Francisco-based institute conducts research on economic, population and governance issues.

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In a paper examining the company's impact on prices, Jerry Hausman, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Ephraim Leibtag, an economist with the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service, found that Wal-Mart's entrance into a market lowers food prices about 25 percent, including savings from rivals' price cuts.

"The spread of super centers has the greatest impact on poorer households and minority households," said the study.

"I'm actually quite disturbed at some of my liberal friends who want to keep Wal-Mart out," Hausman said in an interview, adding that such efforts "hurt poor people."

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A second paper in which Basker studied American Chamber of Commerce Research Association price data in 165 cities between 1982 and 2002 found that Wal-Mart reduced long-term prices of some staples such as laundry detergent and toothpaste by up to 13 percent.

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