This article assesses the effects of a "fat tax" on the nutrients purchased by French households across different income groups. This is done by making a preliminary estimation of price elasticities using a complete demand system on household scanner data, and by calculating nutrient elasticities using estimated price elasticities. We find that a fat tax has small and ambiguous effects on nutrients purchased by French households, and a slight effect on body weight in the short run, with a greater effect in the long run. Such a tax generates substantial tax revenue, but is highly regressive.

This research addresses two important issues for the future expansion of organic consumption in France. The first one is related to knowing whether the organic choice is a permanent feature of consumer's attitude or not: Do organic buyers occasionally pick one organic product or do they choose organic for "several" categories? The second issue concerns the impact of prices on buying organics which is revisited, distinguishing between capturing new consumers and increasing the demand coming from people already involved in organic markets. These questions are examined using the market basket approach; the price issue requires further estimations of demand models. The study relies on two staple food products, eggs and milk. The findings are: (i) choosing organic for one of the two items reinforces the probability of purchasing also the organic version of the second item; (ii) marginal reductions of the organic price have no impact on the decision of buying organic rather than conventional products; (iii) when people already purchase organic products, they may be price sensitive; and (iv) organic buyers' demographic profile is not related to income neither to age nor to family size, but to the educational level.

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The nutritional quality of French households' food-at-home purchases improved over the last 40 years, as shown by increasing nutrient density. However, during the last decade, nutrient density ceased to increase and the purchase of calories increased, advocating a need for public action to promote healthier food purchasing patterns.

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