Technology effects, business process development, and productivity growth are considered in the context of a single company: Wal‐Mart. The starting point is the 2001 McKinsey Global Institute report, which finds that over 1995–2000, a quarter of U.S. productivity growth is attributable to the retail industry, and almost a sixth of that is attributable to Wal‐Mart. Wal‐Mart is interesting as well because of its rapid growth in Canada. This is now Canada's largest private sector employer. We also consider other evidence relevant to public policy formation concerning Wal‐Mart and conclude with a discussion of options for partially filling important data gaps.

Researchers in hedonic studies frequently encounter the problems of the choice of functional forms, the use of pooled regression using time dummies vs period to period regression, and the unit of measurement of the product. This article examines these issues through the study of Internet service providers in Canada from 1993 to 2000. A series of tests are employed to evaluate the best procedure. We find that the commonly used log-linear equation with period to period regression and hourly rate charged gives a robust result compared with the more flexible translog function. The quality-adjusted price index declines at about 15% per year.

In the last 20 years,

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