Abstract

Amazon is magical. Search the online marketplace for pretty much anything you can imagine—not to mention all the things you never imagined; you will likely find what you were searching for and be able to have it delivered in two days or less. The magic is not just in Amazon’s vast array of innovative consumer products but also in its providing access to goods that are unavailable locally. An extreme example of Amazon’s ability to supply goods that were not locally available may be found in the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, when neighborhood stores were out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, if the stores were even open. These critical goods could often still be purchased from Amazon—although sometimes at pandemic pricing levels—and delivered to our doorsteps without any human contact required. [...]

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

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