Sidewalk Stimulus: Economic and Geographic Impacts of Los Angeles Street Vendors

Abstract

This report estimates the impact of the informal penalty, that is, the cost of exclusion from the mainstream economy, for various stakeholders in the Angeleno ecosystem, from local businesses to neighborhood residents. We investigate three research questions: 1. What is the economic cost of excluding street vendors from the formal economy? 2. What consequences do sidewalk microentrepreneurs have on brick and mortar retail stores and restaurants operating on the same city block? 3. Is there likely to be more or less crime in areas where vendors are present?