Influences of various pricing points: an experimental study of plastic bags in Johannesburg, South Africa

Johane Dikgang, Zafeer Ravat and Jugal Mahabir

Journal of Applied Economics, 2022, vol. 25, issue 1, 1200-1218

Abstract: Policymakers have little experience regarding designing the right levels of pricing for plastic bags. The ineffectiveness of charging for bags, in countries such as South Africa, makes it imperative that we map the demand curve. Getting the charge “right” depends on the size of the externality. Charging for bags is therefore an effective intervention to encourage consumers to carry their own bags to the stores. We employ a contingent behaviour (CB) dataset necessary to estimate the charge level that is likely to lead to a reduction in bag use over time. The results of the random effects Tobit model suggest that the current charge of US$0.03 was found to be too low, and highly inelastic. A charge of US$0.50 has potential to reduce unnecessary plastic use and is still lower than the price of alternatives; therefore, there is no danger of consumers shifting to alternatives that may cause more harm.

Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/15140326.2022.2124085 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:recsxx:v:25:y:2022:i:1:p:1200-1218

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/recs20

DOI: 10.1080/15140326.2022.2124085

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Applied Economics is currently edited by Jorge M. Streb

More articles in Journal of Applied Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().