New stores benefit consumers in large municipalities

Even if service companies grow rapidly and dominate modern economies, there is barely any knowledge of their productivity. In an article in Ekonomisk Debatt Matilda Orth, IFN, and Florin Maican, affiliated to IFN, present new methods for analyzing productivity in service companies where investment in new technology is key. They have investigated the extent to which supermarket establishments and the level of regulation of new stores, affect the productivity and closure of existing stores as well as the supply for consumers. Among other things, they find that consumers in large municipalities are winners when new stores open up.