Mandatory labels, taxes and market forces: An empirical evaluation of fat policies

Allais, Olivier; Étilé, Fabrice; Lecocq, Sébastien

doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.06.003

Cited by 35 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The evidence of taxes on food products is more mixed and difficult to assess since many of the studies involve complicated bundles of taxes (e.g. [33]).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of these, eight found that taxes on food/beverages were likely to have a greater impact on younger population groups [22, 23, 26, 27, 47–50] and 15 found that public health impacts are likely to be largest for lower income groups [22, 25, 27, 32, 33, 42, 44, 46, 48, 49, 51–56]. In contrast, two studies [23, 34] found no significant differences between income groups.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Policy lessons from health taxes: a systematic review of empirical studies

2017

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BackgroundTaxes on alcohol and tobacco have long been an important means of raising revenues for public spending in many countries but there is increasing interest in using taxes on these, and other unhealthy products, to achieve public health goals. We present a systematic review of the research on health taxes, and aim to generate insights into how such taxes can: (i) reduce consumption of targeted products and related harms; (ii) generate revenues for health objectives and distribute the tax burden across income groups in an efficient and equitable manner; and (iii) be made politically sustainable.MethodsSix scientific and four grey-literature databases were searched for empirical studies of ‘health taxes’ – defined as those intended to increase the costs of manufacturing, distributing, retailing and/or consuming health-damaging products. Since reviews already exist of the evidence relating to traditional alcohol and tobacco excise taxes, we focus on other taxes such as taxes on retailers and manufacturers of unhealthy products, and consumer taxes targeting unhealthy foods, such as sugar-sweetened beverages.ResultsNinety-one peer-reviewed and 11 grey-literature studies met our inclusion criteria. The review highlights a recent, rapid rise in research in this area, most of which focuses on high-income countries and on taxes on food products or nutrients. Findings demonstrate that high tax rates on sugar-sweetened beverages are likely to have a positive impact on health behaviours and outcomes, and, while taxes on products reduce demand, they add to fiscal revenues. Common concerns about health taxes are also discussed.ConclusionsIf the primary policy goal of a health tax is to reduce consumption of unhealthy products, then evidence supports the implementation of taxes that increase the price of products by 20% or more. However, where taxes are effective in changing health behaviours, the predictability of the revenue stream is reduced. Hence, policy actors need to be clear about the primary goal of any health tax and frame the tax accordingly – not doing so leaves taxes vulnerable to hostile lobbying. Conversely, earmarking health taxes for health spending tends to increase public support so long as policymakers follow through on specified spending commitments.Systematic review registration number CRD42016048603 Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4497-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…The evidence of taxes on food products is more mixed and difficult to assess since many of the studies involve complicated bundles of taxes (e.g. [33]).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policy lessons from health taxes: a systematic review of empirical studies

2017

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“…; Dharmasena and Capps, ; Bonnet and Réquillart, ; Allais et al. ; Etilé and Sharma, ), grain consumption (Nordström and Thunström, ) and nutritional status (Smed et al. ).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Introducing a Minimum Price on the Distribution of Alcohol Purchase: A Counterfactual Analysis

2016

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We use counterfactual analysis techniques to evaluate the impact of a $2 minimum unit price (MUP) on the distribution of Australian (Victorian) household off-trade alcohol purchases. Our estimates suggest that a $2 MUP significantly reduces the purchases of at-risk households by up to -0.92 [90% CI: -1.55, -0.28] standard drinks at the highest quantiles and has substantially less effect on households purchasing at light and moderate levels. A $2 MUP may reduce the proportions of male and female shoppers purchasing at the public health threshold of more than two standard drinks per household member per day by -3.03 [90% CI: -4.83, -1.22] percentage points (relative variation: -17%); and -1.85 [90% CI: -2.60, -1.10] percentage points (relative variation:-22%), respectively. Implementing an MUP on alcohol thus promises significant positive impacts on public health. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…In addition, firms also featured more price promotions for brands revealed as unhealthy by the mandatory label, contrasting with results from experiments in which both GM products and non-GM products garnered higher prices once mandatory GM labels were introduced (Huffman et al 2002, Dannenberg et al 2011. Allais et al (2012) also identify likely firm price responses to mandatory labeling. These authors leverage an interesting natural experiment in which similarly formulated but differently named dairy products in France are subject to either a voluntary or a mandatory fat disclosure label.…”

Section: Empirical Studiesmentioning

confidence: 81%

The Economics of Voluntary Versus Mandatory Labels

Roe

Teisl

Deans

2014

Annu. Rev. Resour. Econ.

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Labels address a market failure-asymmetric information-through costly expenditures borne by consumers, firms, and taxpayers. In this review, we explore when mandatory and voluntary labeling policies may be socially optimal. Although the analysis ostensibly revolves around simple comparisons of labeling costs and the subsequent benefits from improved information symmetry, more symmetric information may alter social welfare in other ways, e.g., by altering the production of externalities, the exercise of market power, or expenditures on rent-seeking activities. We review work that contributes to a more complete analysis of the relative merits of mandatory and voluntary labeling; that assesses the distribution of welfare effects across affected groups; and that discusses political economy issues, particularly in the context of voluntary labels in international trade. We summarize key patterns of results concerning the relative desirability of mandatory and voluntary labels and discuss likely future directions in this evolving literature.

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Mandatory labels, taxes and market forces: An empirical evaluation of fat policies

Cited by 35 publications

References 43 publications

Policy lessons from health taxes: a systematic review of empirical studies

Policy lessons from health taxes: a systematic review of empirical studies

The Effect of Introducing a Minimum Price on the Distribution of Alcohol Purchase: A Counterfactual Analysis

The Economics of Voluntary Versus Mandatory Labels

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