Online shopping revenues in the United States were $520 billion 2018, a more than threefold increase over a decade prior. Recent research on county-level shares of consumer expenditures conducted online shows aggregate consumer gains but also considerable spatial variation, creating a new source of social inequality. Through the lens of classical retail location theory, this paper uses a novel approach to test the effects of marginalization, by both income and remoteness, on online shopping behavior. We find that increased shipping costs weaken demand for online goods across consumer groups. When the costs of shipping are controlled for, distance from a city most strongly motivates low-income counties to engage in online shopping, reflecting sensitivity to cost reductions. However, variations in cost and cost/distance ratios have little effect for this group, because if shipping surcharges exist, which they almost always do at high levels, consumers in these counties will forego online shopping. Medium-income counties are sensitive to variations in cost and cost/distance ratios. The highest-income counties display no response to the marginal costs of remoteness. In sum, online shopping benefits consumers living in counties marginalized by either remoteness or low income but not both.

中文翻译：

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在线市场：零级城市还是社会不平等的新根源？

2018 年美国的在线购物收入为 5200 亿美元，比十年前增长了三倍多。最近在网上对县级消费支出份额进行的研究表明，总体消费者收益但也存在相当大的空间差异，从而造成了社会不平等的新根源。通过经典零售区位理论的视角，本文使用一种新颖的方法来测试收入和偏远地区边缘化对在线购物行为的影响。我们发现，增加的运输成本削弱了消费者群体对在线商品的需求。当运输成本得到控制时，离城市的距离最能激发低收入县从事网上购物，反映了对降低成本的敏感性。然而，成本和成本/距离比率的变化对这一群体几乎没有影响，因为如果存在运费附加费（他们几乎总是在高水平上这样做），这些县的消费者将放弃在线购物。中等收入县对成本和成本/距离比率的变化很敏感。收入最高的县对偏远的边际成本没有反应。总而言之，在线购物使生活在偏远或低收入边缘地区的消费者受益，但不能两者兼而有之。