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.
Highlights
Excessive consumption of added sugars has been associated with growing prevalence of ill-health, including obesity, cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes and dental caries globally (WHO, 2018)
By conducting the discrete choice experiment (DCE) among a sample drawn from a panel of consumers who regularly report their food and beverage purchases (GB Kantar Fast Moving Consumer Good panel), we were able to take into account participants usual beverage purchasing behaviour and assess the validity of the DCE in making beverage choices
There was a difference in the overall household size, which appeared to be driven by small differences in the number of children
Summary
Excessive consumption of added sugars has been associated with growing prevalence of ill-health, including obesity, cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes and dental caries globally (WHO, 2018). Cremer, Goulao, and Roeder (2016) demonstrate, in a theoretical framework, that earmarking a fraction of tax proceeds to reduce health insurance premiums and retaining revenues to subsidise healthier goods can be welfare maximising (Cremer et al, 2016) Another recent study provided suggestive evidence of the potential effect of framing and information on earmaking tax revenue for health from Berkeley, California, where a penny-per-ounce tax on SSBs was introduced in 2015, with its revenues to be used for nutritional or other public health programs. By conducting the DCE among a sample drawn from a panel of consumers who regularly report their food and beverage purchases (GB Kantar Fast Moving Consumer Good panel), we were able to take into account participants usual beverage purchasing behaviour and assess the validity of the DCE in making beverage choices
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