Local, Organic, Inexpensive and Safe: Can Large Retailers Do It All?
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The Department of Economic Science was founded in 1898 to teach economic theory as a truth of industrial life, and was very much concerned with applying economics to business and industry, particularly agriculture. Between 1910 and 1967 it showed the growing influence of other social studies, such as sociology, history, and political science. Today it encompasses the majors of Agricultural Business (preparing for agricultural finance and management), Business Economics, and Economics (for advanced studies in business or economics or for careers in financing, management, insurance, etc).
History
The Department of Economic Science was founded in 1898 under the Division of Industrial Science (later College of Liberal Arts and Sciences); it became co-directed by the Division of Agriculture in 1919. In 1910 it became the Department of Economics and Political Science. In 1913 it became the Department of Applied Economics and Social Science; in 1924 it became the Department of Economics, History, and Sociology; in 1931 it became the Department of Economics and Sociology. In 1967 it became the Department of Economics, and in 2007 it became co-directed by the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Business.
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1898–present
Historical Names
- Department of Economic Science (1898–1910)
- Department of Economics and Political Science (1910-1913)
- Department of Applied Economics and Social Science (1913–1924)
- Department of Economics, History and Sociology (1924–1931)
- Department of Economics and Sociology (1931–1967)
Related Units
- College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (parent college)
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
- College of Business (parent college)
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Abstract
One of the most important changes in the food industry in recent decades has been the increase in retailer concentration at the national level. The trade publication Progressive Grocer releases the Super 50 annually, a ranking of the 50 largest food retailers in the U.S., by receipts. In 1997 the top 5 retailers controlled 24 percent of the national market. By 2004 this figure was 46 percent and by 2010, 61 percent.1 Much of this change has been driven by waves of mergers and acquisitions (Franklin, 2001), but it is impossible to overlook the role that big box, low-cost supercenter stores, particularly Wal-Mart, have played.2 Wal-Mart entered food retail with its first supercenter in 1988 and has since grown to become the largest food retailer in the U.S. by a wide margin.
Comments
This is a Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association’s 2012 AAEA Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, August 12-14, 2012.