Amazon and its effect on the poorer cities

© Ken Wolter

Wonderful investigation by The Atlantic on the bittersweet effect of Amazon investing in communities blighted by poverty and unemployment. Labour is cheap and plentiful, and local governments typically do all they can to accommodate the e-commerce giant in the belief that jobs and investment from Amazon would simultaneously drive further demand from other companies, as well as stimulate the local economy. But it doesn’t always work out like that: “For many places, the choice is not between Amazon or another, better employer. The choice, instead, is Amazon or nothing.”