IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/hlthec/v29y2020i10p1132-1147.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Framing and signalling effects of taxes on sugary drinks: A discrete choice experiment among households in Great Britain

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Cornelsen
  • Matthew Quaife
  • Mylene Lagarde
  • Richard D. Smith

Abstract

Taxes on sugar‐sweetened beverages (SSBs) are in place in many countries to combat obesity with emerging evidence that these are effective in reducing purchases of SSBs. In this study, we tested whether signalling and framing the price increase from an SSB tax explicitly as a health‐related, earmarked measure reduces the demand for SSBs more than an equivalent price increase. We measured the demand for non‐alcoholic beverages with a discrete choice experiment (DCE) administered online to a randomly selected group of n = 603 households with children in Great Britain (GB) who regularly purchase SSBs. We find a suggestive evidence that a price increase leads to a larger reduction in the probability of choosing SSBs when it is signalled as a tax and framed as a health‐related and earmarked policy. Respondents who did not support a tax on SSBs, who were also more likely to choose SSBs in the first place, were on average more responsive to a price increase framed as an earmarked tax than those who supported the tax. The predictive validity of the DCE, to capture preferences for beverages, was confirmed using actual purchase data. The findings imply that a well‐signalled and earmarked tax on SSBs could improve its effectiveness at reducing the demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Cornelsen & Matthew Quaife & Mylene Lagarde & Richard D. Smith, 2020. "Framing and signalling effects of taxes on sugary drinks: A discrete choice experiment among households in Great Britain," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(10), pages 1132-1147, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:29:y:2020:i:10:p:1132-1147
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.4123
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4123
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hec.4123?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. Cremer, Helmuth & Goulão, Catarina & Roeder, Kerstin, 2016. "Earmarking and the political support of fat taxes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 258-267.
    2. Athanasios Krystallis & Polymeros Chrysochou, 2012. "Do Health Claims and Prior Awareness Influence Consumers' Preferences for Unhealthy Foods? The Case of Functional Children's Snacks," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 86-102, January.
    3. Andreyeva, T. & Long, M.W. & Brownell, K.D., 2010. "The impact of food prices on consumption: A systematic review of research on the price elasticity of demand for food," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(2), pages 216-222.
    4. Pierre Dubois & Rachel Griffith & Martin O'Connell, 2020. "How Well Targeted Are Soda Taxes?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(11), pages 3661-3704, November.
    5. Harding, Matthew & Lovenheim, Michael, 2017. "The effect of prices on nutrition: Comparing the impact of product- and nutrient-specific taxes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 53-71.
    6. Raj Chetty & Adam Looney & Kory Kroft, 2009. "Salience and Taxation: Theory and Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1145-1177, September.
    7. Papoutsi, Georgia S. & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Lazaridis, Panagiotis & Drichoutis, Andreas C., 2015. "Fat tax, subsidy or both? The role of information and children's pester power in food choice," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 196-208.
    8. Cawley, John & Frisvold, David & Hill, Anna & Jones, David, 2019. "The impact of the Philadelphia beverage tax on purchases and consumption by adults and children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    9. Gregory Colson & Carola Grebitus, 2017. "Relationship between Children's BMI and Parents’ Preferences for Kids’ Yogurts with and without Front of Package Health Signals," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 151-159, April.
    10. Chen, Xiu & Kaiser, Harry M. & Rickard, Bradley J., 2015. "The impacts of inclusive and exclusive taxes on healthy eating: An experimental study," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 13-24.
    11. Ashkan Afshin & José L Peñalvo & Liana Del Gobbo & Jose Silva & Melody Michaelson & Martin O'Flaherty & Simon Capewell & Donna Spiegelman & Goodarz Danaei & Dariush Mozaffarian, 2017. "The prospective impact of food pricing on improving dietary consumption: A systematic review and meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-18, March.
    12. Tatiana A. Homonoff, 2013. "Can Small Incentives Have Large Effects? The Impact of Taxes versus Bonuses on Disposable Bag Use," Working Papers 1483, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    13. Tatiana A. Homonoff, 2018. "Can Small Incentives Have Large Effects? The Impact of Taxes versus Bonuses on Disposable Bag Use," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 177-210, November.
    14. Ryota Nakamura & Andrew J Mirelman & Cristóbal Cuadrado & Nicolas Silva-Illanes & Jocelyn Dunstan & Marc Suhrcke, 2018. "Evaluating the 2014 sugar-sweetened beverage tax in Chile: An observational study in urban areas," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-22, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Chris Sampson’s journal round-up for 12th October 2020
      by Chris Sampson in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2020-10-12 11:00:03

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Emily Lancsar & Jemimah Ride & Nicole Black & Leonie Burgess & Anna Peeters, 2022. "Social acceptability of standard and behavioral economic inspired policies designed to reduce and prevent obesity," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 197-214, January.
    2. Thao Thai & Michiel Bliemer & Gang Chen & Jean Spinks & Sonja de New & Emily Lancsar, 2023. "Comparison of a full and partial choice set design in a labeled discrete choice experiment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(6), pages 1284-1304, June.
    3. Samare P. I. Huls & Emily Lancsar & Bas Donkers & Jemimah Ride, 2022. "Two for the price of one: If moving beyond traditional single‐best discrete choice experiments, should we use best‐worst, best‐best or ranking for preference elicitation?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(12), pages 2630-2647, December.

    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. Cornelsen, Laura & Quaife, Matthew & Lagarde, Mylene & Smith, Richard D., 2020. "Framing and signalling effects of taxes on sugary drinks: a discrete choice experiment among households in Great Britain," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 105777, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. 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.
    3. Aguilar, Arturo & Gutierrez, Emilio & Seira, Enrique, 2021. "The effectiveness of sin food taxes: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    4. Di Cosmo, Valeria & Tiezzi, Silvia, 2023. "Let them Eat Cake? The Net Consumer Welfare Impact of Sin Taxes," MPRA Paper 116214, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Goncalves, Judite & Merenda, Roxanne & dos Santos, João Pereira, 2022. "Not so sweet: The impact of the Portuguese soda tax on producers," Ruhr Economic Papers 938, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    6. Gračner, Tadeja, 2021. "Bittersweet: How prices of sugar-rich foods contribute to the diet-related disease epidemic in Mexico," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Blake, Miranda R. & Lancsar, Emily & Peeters, Anna & Backholer, Kathryn, 2019. "Sugar-sweetened beverage price elasticities in a hypothetical convenience store," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 98-107.
    8. 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).
    9. Syed Hasan & Mathias Sinning, 2018. "GST Reform in Australia: Implications of Estimating Price Elasticities of Demand for Food," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 94(306), pages 239-254, September.
    10. Cornelsen, Laura & Smith, Richard D., 2018. "Viewpoint: Soda taxes – Four questions economists need to address," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 138-142.
    11. Pourya Valizadeh & Shu Wen Ng, 2021. "Would A National Sugar‐Sweetened Beverage Tax in the United States Be Well Targeted?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 961-986, May.
    12. Doble, Brett & Ang Jia Ler, Felicia & Finkelstein, Eric A., 2020. "The effect of implicit and explicit taxes on the purchasing of ‘high-in-calorie’ products: A randomized controlled trial," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    13. Rachel Griffith & Victoria Jenneson & Joseph James & Anna Taylor, 2021. "The impact of a tax on added sugar and salt," IFS Working Papers W21/21, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    14. 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.
    15. Gonçalves, Judite & Pereira dos Santos, João, 2020. "Brown sugar, how come you taste so good? The impact of a soda tax on prices and consumption," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    16. Judite Gonçalves & Roxanne Merenda & João Pereira dos Santos, 2024. "Not so sweet: impacts of a soda tax on producers," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(5), pages 1388-1412, October.
    17. Diansheng Dong & Yuqing Zheng & Hayden Stewart, 2020. "The effects of food sales taxes on household food spending: An application of a censored cluster model," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(5), pages 669-684, September.
    18. Marit Hinnosaar, 2023. "The Persistence of Healthy Behaviors in Food Purchasing," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(3), pages 521-537, May.
    19. Hunt Allcott & Benjamin B Lockwood & Dmitry Taubinsky, 2019. "Regressive Sin Taxes, with an Application to the Optimal Soda Tax," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1557-1626.
    20. Stacey, Nicholas & Mudara, Caroline & Ng, Shu Wen & van Walbeek, Corné & Hofman, Karen & Edoka, Ijeoma, 2019. "Sugar-based beverage taxes and beverage prices: Evidence from South Africa's Health Promotion Levy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.

    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:wly:hlthec:v:29:y:2020:i:10:p:1132-1147. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5749 .

    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.