1. The causal impact of sugar taxes on soft drink sales: Evidence from France and Hungary
- Author
-
Adriana N König and Christoph Kurz
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous) ,Carbonated Beverages ,Sales ,Soft Drinks ,Sugar Tax ,Sugar-sweetened Beverages ,Synthetic Control ,Beverages ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,stomatognathic system ,medicine ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Excise ,Sugar ,health care economics and organizations ,Consumption (economics) ,Hungary ,Health economics ,030503 health policy & services ,Health Policy ,Public health ,technology, industry, and agriculture ,food and beverages ,Taxes ,medicine.disease ,Obesity ,stomatognathic diseases ,Demographic economics ,Business ,Sugars ,0305 other medical science ,Soft drink ,Public finance - Abstract
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are associated with increased body weight and obesity, which induce a wide array of health impairments such as diabetes or cardiovascular disorders. Excise taxes have been introduced to counteract SSB consumption. We investigated the effect of sugar taxes on SSB sales in Hungary and France using a synthetic control approach. For France, we found a slight decrease in SSB sales after tax implementation while overall soft drink sales increased. For Hungary, there was only a short-term decrease in SSB sales which disappeared after 2 years, leading to an overall increase in SSB sales. However, both effects are characterized by great uncertainty.
- Published
- 2021