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By Ounce or by Calorie: The Differential Effects of Alternative Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Strategies

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  • Chen Zhen
  • Ian F. Brissette
  • Ryan Richard Ruff

Abstract

The obesity epidemic and excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages have led to proposals of economics-based interventions to promote healthy eating in the United States. Targeted food and beverage taxes and subsidies are prominent examples of such potential intervention strategies. This paper examines the differential effects that taxing sugar-sweetened beverages by calories and by ounces have on beverage demand. To properly measure the extent of substitution and complementarity between beverage products, we developed a fully modified distance metric model of differentiated product demand that endogenizes the cross-price effects. We illustrated the proposed methodology in a linear approximate almost ideal demand system, although other flexible demand systems can also be used. In the empirical application using supermarket scanner data, the product-level demand model consists of 178 beverage products with a combined market share of over 90%. The novel demand model outperformed the conventional distance metric model in non-nested model comparison tests, and in terms of the economic significance of model predictions. In the fully modified model, a calorie-based beverage tax was estimated to cost $1.40 less in compensating variation than an ounce-based tax per 3,500 beverage calories reduced. This difference in welfare cost estimates between two tax strategies is more than three times the difference estimated by the conventional distance metric model. If applied to products purchased from all sources, a 0.04-cent per kcal tax on sugar-sweetened beverages is predicted to reduce annual per capita beverage intake by 5,800kcal.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen Zhen & Ian F. Brissette & Ryan Richard Ruff, 2014. "By Ounce or by Calorie: The Differential Effects of Alternative Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax Strategies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(4), pages 1070-1083.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:ajagec:v:96:y:2014:i:4:p:1070-1083.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ajae/aau052
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    Cited by:

    1. Hunt Allcott & Benjamin B. Lockwood & Dmitry Taubinsky, 2019. "Should We Tax Sugar-Sweetened Beverages? An Overview of Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(3), pages 202-227, Summer.
    2. Jing Li & Edward C. Jaenicke & Tobenna D. Anekwe & Alessandro Bonanno, 2018. "Demand for ready‐to‐eat cereals with household‐level censored purchase data and nutrition label information: A distance metric approach," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 687-713, October.
    3. Zhen, Chen & Chen, Yu & Lin, Biing-Hwan & Karns, Shawn & Mancino, Lisa & Ver Ploeg, Michele, 2021. "Do Obese and Nonobese Consumers Respond Differently to Price Changes? Implications of Preference Heterogeneity for Using Food Taxes and Subsidies to Reduce Obesity," MPRA Paper 112697, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Xiang, Di & Zhan, Lue & Bordignon, Massimo, 2020. "A reconsideration of the sugar sweetened beverage tax in a household production model," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Dogbe, Wisdom & Gil, José M., 2018. "Effectiveness of a carbon tax to promote a climate-friendly food consumption," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 235-246.
    6. Li, Wenying & Dorfman, Jeffrey H., 2018. "Habit Formation with Smooth Transitions: Estimating Demand for U.S. Carbonated-Sweetened Beverages and Beer," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273852, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Li, Xun & Wang, Rui, 2016. "Spatial Convergence of US Obesity Rates and Its Determinants," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235617, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Massimo Bordignon & Di Xiang & Lue Zhan, 2018. "Predicting the Effects of a Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax in a Household Production Model," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def075, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    9. Wisdom Dogbe & Cesar Revoredo-Giha, 2021. "Nutritional and Environmental Assessment of Increasing the Content of Fruit and Vegetables in the UK Diet," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23, January.
    10. Dogbe, Wisdom & Gil, Jose M., 2020. "Internalizing the public cost of obesity in Spain: Distributional effects on nutrient intake," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1352-1371.
    11. John Cawley & Michael Daly & Rebecca Thornton, 2022. "The effect of beverage taxes on youth consumption and body mass index: Evidence from Mauritius," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(6), pages 1033-1045, June.
    12. Chen Zhen & Yu Chen & Biing‐Hwan Lin & Shawn Karns & Lisa Mancino & Michele Ver Ploeg, 2024. "Do obese and nonobese consumers respond differently to price changes? Implications of preference heterogeneity for obesity‐oriented food taxes and subsidies," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(3), pages 1058-1088, May.
    13. Paul Calcott, 2022. "Regulating ingredients in sin goods," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(3), pages 1120-1139, May.
    14. Lionel Cosnard, 2019. "Taxing Sugar and Sugary Products to Reduce Obesity: A CGE Assessment of Several Tax Policies," Post-Print hal-03148821, HAL.
    15. Gibson, John & Kim, Bonggeun, 2019. "Quality, quantity, and spatial variation of price: Back to the bog," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 66-77.
    16. Alyssa J. Moran & Yuxuan Gu & Sasha Clynes & Attia Goheer & Christina A. Roberto & Anne Palmer, 2020. "Associations between Governmental Policies to Improve the Nutritional Quality of Supermarket Purchases and Individual, Retailer, and Community Health Outcomes: An Integrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-23, October.
    17. Dogbe, W. & Gil, J.M., 2018. "Effects of a modified Danish fat tax on food consumption and nutrients intake in Spain," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277237, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Cosnard, Lionel & Laborde, David, 2019. "Taxing Sugar and Sugary Products to Reduce Obesity: A CGE Assessment of Several Tax Policies," Conference papers 333067, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    19. Alessandro Bonanno & Carlo Russo & Luisa Menapace, 2018. "Market power and bargaining in agrifood markets: A review of emerging topics and tools," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(1), pages 6-23, December.
    20. Paul Calcott & Vladimir Petkov, 2023. "Choosing between imperfect proxies for a corrective tax," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 25(2), pages 245-275, April.
    21. Zhai, Tianchang & Wang, Jingjing & Li, Lei & Si, Wei, 2021. "Based on Volume or Sugar Content: Comparison of Consumer Welfare Effects of Different Consumption Tax Strategies for Sugar-Sweetened Beverages——Evidence from Urban China," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315103, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    22. Caputo, Vincenzina & Lusk, Jayson L., 2022. "The Basket-Based Choice Experiment: A Method for Food Demand Policy Analysis," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).

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