Can Soft Drink Taxes Reduce Population Weight?

Fletcher, Jason M.; Frisvold, David E.; Tefft, Nathan

doi:10.1111/j.1465-7287.2009.00182.x

Can Soft Drink Taxes Reduce Population Weight?

Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol. 28, Issue 1, pp. 23-35, January 2010

13 Pages Posted: 25 Jan 2010

See all articles by Jason M. Fletcher

Jason M. Fletcher

University of Wisconsin - Madison - Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs; Yale University - School of Public Health

David E. Frisvold

University of Iowa - Henry B. Tippie College of Business - Department of Economics

Soft drink consumption has been hypothesized as one of the major factors in the growing rates of obesity in the United States. Nearly two-thirds of all states currently tax soft drinks using excise taxes, sales taxes, or special exceptions to food exemptions from sales taxes to reduce consumption of this product, raise revenue, and improve public health. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of changes in state soft drink taxes on body mass index (BMI), obesity, and overweight. Our results suggest that soft drink taxes influence BMI, but that the impact is small in magnitude.(JEL I18, H75)

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Fletcher, Jason M. and Frisvold, David E. and Tefft, Nathan, Can Soft Drink Taxes Reduce Population Weight?. Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol. 28, Issue 1, pp. 23-35, January 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1540795 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2009.00182.x