We examine how soda sales changed due to the campaign attention and election outcome of a local excise tax on sugar‐sweetened beverages. Using panel data of beverage sales from university retailers in Berkeley, California, we estimate that soda purchases relative to control beverages significantly dropped immediately after the election, months before the tax was implemented in the city of Berkeley or on campus. Supplemental scanner data from off‐campus retailers reveal this result is not unique to the university setting. Our findings suggest soda tax media coverage and election outcomes can have larger effects on purchasing behavior than the tax itself. (JEL D12, H20, C23, I38, Q18)

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Objectives. To examine how much sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) excise taxes increased SSB retail prices in Oakland and San Francisco, California. Methods. We collected pretax (April–May 2017) and posttax (April–May 2018) retail prices of SSBs and non-SSBs from 155 stores in Oakland, San Francisco, and comparison cities. We analyzed data using difference-in-differences high-dimensional fixed-effects regressions, weighted by regional beverage sales. Results. Across all beverage sizes, the weighted average price of SSBs increased by 0.92 cents per ounce (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.28, 1.56) in Oakland and 1.00 cents per ounce (95% CI = 0.35, 1.65) in San Francisco, compared with prices in untaxed cities. The tax did not significantly alter prices of water, 100% juice, or milk of any size examined. Diet soda only, among non-SSBs, exhibited a higher price increase for some sizes in taxed cities. Conclusions. Within 4 to 10 months of implementation, Oakland’s and San Francisco’s SSB excise taxes significantly increased SSB retail prices by approximately the amount of the taxes, a key mechanism for reducing consumption.

New discoveries in life sciences and the challenge of climate change are leading to the emergence of the bioeconomy where basic methods of advanced biology are applied to produce a wide array of products while also improving environmental quality. The emergence of the bioeconomy is a continuing evolutionary process of transition from systems of mining nonrenewable resources to farming renewable ones. This transition benefits from the modern tools of molecular biology that have expanded the human capacity to breed new organisms and utilize them to increase productivity in agriculture and fisheries as well as produce a wide array of products that were extracted in the past. This transition is leading to the integration of the agricultural sector with the energy and mineral sectors. The introduction of biotechnology has already improved the productivity of medicine as well as agriculture but, in the case of agriculture, has encountered resistance and regulatory constraints. The evolution of the bioeconomy requires continuous public investment in research and innovation as well as the establishment of a regulatory framework and financial incentives and institutions that would lead to continuous private sector investment in the development and commercialization of new products. One of the biggest challenges is the development of a regulatory framework that would control possible human and environmental externalities from new biotechnology products and, at the same time, not stifle innovation.JEL classifications: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5