Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0

Author-Name: Massimo Bordignon
Author-X-Name-First: Massimo 
Author-X-Name-Last: Bordignon
Author-Email: massimo.bordignon@unicatt.it
Author-Workplace-Name: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
Author-Workplace-Name: Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

Author-Name: Di Xiang 
Author-X-Name-First: Di 
Author-X-Name-Last: Xiang 


Author-Name: Lue Zhan
Author-X-Name-First: Lue 
Author-X-Name-Last: Zhan


Title: Predicting the Effects of a Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax in a Household Production Model.


Abstract: We study the impact of a hypothetical tax on sugar - sweetened beverages (SSBs) on the US households’ nutrients purchase, welfare change, and health benefit. Differently from the traditional approach, Food at Home(FAH) is here defined as a “home” good instead than a market good and consumers’ demands derived under the assumption that households maximize utility subject to both a money and a time constraint. The model is estimated by using an incomplete approximate Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) demand system on a data set built by merging the most recent waves of the US consumer expenditure and time use surveys. Results show that a SSB tax would be much more effective in decreasing household nutrients purchase than it would appear by estimating a model neglecting time costs in home food production. A tax induced increased in SSB price by 20% is predicted to decrease the per capita energy purchase by 29.17 kcal/day. The annual health benefits of the tax, measured only in terms of reduced medical expenditure, would overcome estimated welfare losses by more than $400 million.
Length: 69
Creation-Date: 2018-09
File-URL: http://dipartimenti.unicatt.it/economia-finanza-def075.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: First version, 2018
Number: def075
Classification-JEL: D12 D13 I18. 
Keywords: Sugar-sweetened beverage tax, Obesity, Household Production.
Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie1:def075