Question: This week we discussed returns to scale/economies of scale in relation to large firms such as Wal-Mart, and how large firms such as Wal-Mart are able to undercut the prices of smaller firms. As Wal-Mart has grown in size over the past number of decades, they have continually been the subject of news articles and documentaries, most of which paint them in a negative light (such as the film "The High Cost of Low Pricing").

Given that the U.S. is market economy, do you believe that large firms like Wal-Mart are simply the "winners" of a capitalist economy while the small firms who can't keep up are the "losers" in this system? Do you think large firms like Wal-Mart are overall helping or hurting the U.S. economy? Lastly, given how much political attention is given to "small businesses," do you believe that government policy should play any role here? Explain your reasoning in each case.