IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0213218.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unemployment claims in Philadelphia one year after implementation of the sweetened beverage tax

Author

Listed:
  • Hannah G Lawman
  • Sara N Bleich
  • Jiali Yan
  • Michael T LeVasseur
  • Nandita Mitra
  • Christina A Roberto

Abstract

Objectives: Possible adverse economic impacts of sweetened drink taxes are a key concern for numerous stakeholders. This study examined changes in unemployment benefit claims filings in Philadelphia compared to its neighboring counties two years prior to and 14 months post implementation of a 1.5 cents per ounce excise tax on sugar- and artificially-sweetened beverages. Methods: Data were obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor. Interrupted time series analysis was used to determine if there was a change in new monthly unemployment claims filings post-tax implementation in Philadelphia compared to surrounding counties in supermarkets, select potentially affected industries, and in total claims filings across all industries combined. Results: Results showed there were no statistically significant changes to unemployment claims in Philadelphia compared to neighboring counties for supermarkets (ß = -9.45, 95% CI = -98.11, 79.22), soft drink manufacturers (ß = -0.13, 95% CI = -9.13, 8.88), across other potentially affected industries (ß = 9.16, 95% CI = -488.29, 506.60), or across all industries (ß = -445.85, 95% CI = -4272.39, 3380.68) following implementation of the beverage tax. Unemployment declined similarly in Philadelphia compared to surrounding counties. Conclusions: Public reports of increased unemployment within the first year following the implementation of the Philadelphia beverage tax are not supported by this analysis. Future work should examine employment outcomes and include longer follow-up periods.

Suggested Citation

  • Hannah G Lawman & Sara N Bleich & Jiali Yan & Michael T LeVasseur & Nandita Mitra & Christina A Roberto, 2019. "Unemployment claims in Philadelphia one year after implementation of the sweetened beverage tax," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-10, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0213218
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0213218
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0213218&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0213218?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gabriel Chodorow-Reich & John Coglianese & Loukas Karabarbounis, 2019. "The Macro Effects of Unemployment Benefit Extensions: a Measurement Error Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 227-279.
    2. M Arantxa Colchero & Juan Carlos Salgado & Mishel Unar-Munguía & Mariana Molina & Shuwen Ng & Juan Angel Rivera-Dommarco, 2015. "Changes in Prices After an Excise Tax to Sweetened Sugar Beverages Was Implemented in Mexico: Evidence from Urban Areas," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(12), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Bertil Holmlund, 1998. "Unemployment Insurance in Theory and Practice," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(1), pages 113-141, March.
    4. M A Colchero & Carlos Manuel Guerrero-López & Mariana Molina & Juan Angel Rivera, 2016. "Beverages Sales in Mexico before and after Implementation of a Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(9), pages 1-8, September.
    5. Falbe, J. & Thompson, H.R. & Becker, C.M. & Rojas, N. & McCulloch, C.E. & Madsen, K.A., 2016. "Impact of the Berkeley excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(10), pages 1865-1871.
    6. Vartanian, L.R. & Schwartz, M.B. & Brownell, K.D., 2007. "Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: A systematic review and meta-analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(4), pages 667-675.
    7. Powell, L.M. & Wada, R. & Persky, J.J. & Chaloupka, F.J., 2014. "Employment impact of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(4), pages 672-677.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ifeanyichi, Martilord & Dim, Cyril & Bognini, Maeve & Kebede, Meskerem & Singh, Darshita & Onwujekwe, Obinna & Hargest, Rachel & Friebel, Rocco, 2024. "Can sugar taxes be used for financing surgical systems in Nigeria? A mixed-methods political economy analysis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122863, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Goncalves, Judite & Merenda, Roxanne & Pereira dos Santos, João, 2023. "Not So Sweet: Impacts of a Soda Tax on Producers," IZA Discussion Papers 15968, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Law, Cherry & Cornelsen, Laura & Adams, Jean & Pell, David & Rutter, Harry & White, Martin & Smith, Richard, 2020. "The impact of UK soft drinks industry levy on manufacturers’ domestic turnover," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    4. 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.
    5. Díaz, Juan-José & Sánchez, Alan & Diez-Canseco, Francisco & Jaime Miranda, J. & Popkin, Barry M., 2023. "Employment and wage effects of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes and front-of-package warning label regulations on the food and beverage industry: Evidence from Peru," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    6. Paraje, Guillermo & Colchero, Arantxa & Wlasiuk, Juan Marcos & Sota, Antonio Martner & Popkin, Barry M., 2021. "The effects of the Chilean food policy package on aggregate employment and real wages," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    7. Libby Hattersley & Alessia Thiebaud & Lynn Silver & Kate Mandeville, 2020. "Countering Common Arguments Against Taxes on Sugary Drinks," World Bank Publications - Reports 34361, The World Bank Group.
    8. Libby Hattersley & Alan Fuchs & Alberto Gonima & Lynn Silver & Kate Mandeville, 2020. "Business, Employment, and Productivity Impacts of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Taxes," World Bank Publications - Reports 34082, The World Bank Group.
    9. Felipe Lozano‐Rojas & Patrick Carlin, 2022. "The effect of soda taxes beyond beverages in Philadelphia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(11), pages 2381-2410, November.
    10. World Bank, 2020. "Evidence Brief," World Bank Publications - Reports 33968, The World Bank Group.
    11. Samantha Marinello & Julien Leider & Lisa M Powell, 2021. "Employment impacts of the San Francisco sugar-sweetened beverage tax 2 years after implementation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-16, June.
    12. Mounsey, Sarah & Veerman, Lennert & Jan, Stephen & Thow, Anne Marie, 2020. "The macroeconomic impacts of diet-related fiscal policy for NCD prevention: A systematic review," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Julio C. Arteaga & Daniel Flores & Edgar Luna, 2021. "The effect of a soft drink tax in Mexico: evidence from time series industry data," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 65(2), pages 349-366, April.
    2. Schmacker, Renke & Smed, Sinne, 2020. "Do prices and purchases respond similarly to soft drink tax increases and cuts?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    3. Ahmed Mohammed Alqarni, 2020. "Saudi Smokers' Behaviors After a 100% Tax Increase," International Journal of Marketing Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(1), pages 150-150, March.
    4. Le Bodo, Yann & Etilé, Fabrice & Julia, Chantal & Friant-Perrot, Marine & Breton, Eric & Lecocq, Sébastien & Boizot-Szantai, Christine & Bergeran, Céline & Jabot, Françoise, 2022. "Public health lessons from the French 2012 soda tax and insights on the modifications enacted in 2018," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(7), pages 585-591.
    5. Alsukait, Reem & Wilde, Parke & Bleich, Sara N. & Singh, Gitanjali & Folta, Sara C., 2020. "Evaluating Saudi Arabia’s 50% carbonated drink excise tax: Changes in prices and volume sales," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    6. Sara Capacci & Olivier Allais & Celine Bonnet & Mario Mazzocchi, 2019. "The impact of the French soda tax on prices and purchases. An ex post evaluation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-22, October.
    7. 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.
    8. Powell, Lisa M. & Leider, Julien, 2020. "The impact of Seattle’s Sweetened Beverage Tax on beverage prices and volume sold," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    9. Emily Wang & Christian Rojas & Francesca Colantuoni, 2017. "Heterogeneous Behavior, Obesity, and Storability in the Demand for Soft Drinks," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(1), pages 18-33.
    10. Powell, Lisa M. & Leider, Julien & Léger, Pierre Thomas, 2020. "The impact of the Cook County, IL, Sweetened Beverage Tax on beverage prices," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    11. M A Colchero & Carlos Manuel Guerrero-López & Mariana Molina & Juan Angel Rivera, 2016. "Beverages Sales in Mexico before and after Implementation of a Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(9), pages 1-8, September.
    12. Sainsbury, Emma & Magnusson, Roger & Thow, Anne-Marie & Colagiuri, Stephen, 2020. "Explaining resistance to regulatory interventions to prevent obesity and improve nutrition: A case-study of a sugar-sweetened beverages tax in Australia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    13. Lluc Puig-Codina & Jaime Pinilla & Jaume Puig-Junoy, 2021. "The impact of taxing sugar-sweetened beverages on cola purchasing in Catalonia: an approach to causal inference with time series cross-sectional data," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(1), pages 155-168, February.
    14. Law, Cherry & Cornelsen, Laura & Adams, Jean & Pell, David & Rutter, Harry & White, Martin & Smith, Richard, 2020. "The impact of UK soft drinks industry levy on manufacturers’ domestic turnover," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    15. Daniel John Zizzo & Melanie Parravano & Ryota Nakamura & Suzanna Forwood & Marc Suhrcke, 2021. "The impact of taxation and signposting on diet: an online field study with breakfast cereals and soft drinks," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 24(4), pages 1294-1324, December.
    16. Leider, Julien & Powell, Lisa M., 2022. "Longer-term impacts of the Oakland, California, sugar-sweetened beverage tax on prices and volume sold at two-years post-tax," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    17. Cuadrado, Cristóbal & Dunstan, Jocelyn & Silva-Illanes, Nicolas & Mirelman, Andrew J. & Nakamura, Ryota & Suhrcke, Marc, 2020. "Effects of a sugar-sweetened beverage tax on prices and affordability of soft drinks in Chile: A time series analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    18. Liu, Siyuan & Ohinmaa, Arto & Maximova, Katerina & Veugelers, Paul J., 2023. "The health and economic benefits of sugar taxation and vegetables and fruit subsidy scenarios in Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    19. Powell, Lisa M. & Jones, Kelly & Duran, Ana Clara & Tarlov, Elizabeth & Zenk, Shannon N., 2019. "The price of ultra-processed foods and beverages and adult body weight: Evidence from U.S. veterans," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 39-48.
    20. Cornelsen, Laura & Smith, Richard D., 2018. "Viewpoint: Soda taxes – Four questions economists need to address," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 138-142.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0213218. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.