Soda Wars: The Effect of a Soda Tax Election on University Beverage Sales

Rebecca Taylor, Scott Kaplan (skaplan@usna.edu), Sofia Villas-Boas and Kevin Jung

No 285049, 2019 Conference (63rd), February 12-15, 2019, Melbourne, Australia from Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES)

Abstract: We examine how soda sales changed due to the campaign attention and election out- come of a local excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), most commonly referred to as a soda tax. Using panel data of beverage sales from university retailers in Berkeley, California, we estimate that soda purchases relative to control beverages significantly dropped immediately after the election, months before the tax was implemented in the city of Berkeley or on campus. Supplemental scanner data from off campus drug stores reveal this result is not unique to the university setting. Our findings suggest soda tax media coverage and election outcomes can have larger effects on purchasing behavior than the tax itself.

Keywords: Public; Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45
Date: 2019-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pub
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Related works:
Journal Article: SODA WARS: THE EFFECT OF A SODA TAX ELECTION ON UNIVERSITY BEVERAGE SALES (2019)
Working Paper: SODA WARS: THE EFFECT OF A SODA TAX ELECTION ON UNIVERSITY BEVERAGE SALES (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aare19:285049

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.285049

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