Blattman Channels Kerouac

Chris Blattman does a little stream of consciousness reflection on big bad wal-mart. I liked this part.

As for the small business owners, I've never felt more gouged than walking into a small hardware shop and paying eight dollars for a nail.

Lol. But seriously, some people like small businesses because they keep (theoretically) more money in the community, but is this really true? If people are paying lower prices, then they're also keeping more money in the community. Isn't it mainly an empirical question?