The impact of taxation and signposting on diet: an online field study with breakfast cereals and soft drinks

Daniel John Zizzo; Melanie Parravano; Ryota Nakamura; Suzanna Forwood; Marc Suhrcke

doi:10.1007/s10683-020-09698-0

The impact of taxation and signposting on diet: an online field study with breakfast cereals and soft drinks

Daniel John Zizzo, Melanie Parravano, Ryota Nakamura , Suzanna Forwood, Marc Suhrcke

Health & Health Systems

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We present a large scale study where a nationally representative sample of 1,000 participants were asked to make real purchases within an online supermarket platform. The study captured the effect of price changes, and of the signposting of such changes, for breakfast cereals and soft drinks. We find that such taxes are an effective means of altering food purchasing, with a 20% rate being sufficient to make a significant impact if (and only if) the tax is signposted. Signposting represents a complementary “nudge” policy that could enhance the impact of the tax, though its effectiveness depends on the product category.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1294-1324
Number of pages	31
Journal	Experimental Economics
Volume	24
Issue number	4
Early online date	29 Jan 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-020-09698-0
Publication status	Published - Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This report is independent research commissioned and funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme (Policy Research Unit in Behaviour and Health (PR-UN-0409-10109)). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department of Health. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the UKCRC Centre for Diet and Physical Activity Research (CEDAR) and the ESRC (Network for Integrated Behavioural Science, ES/K002201/1). We thank Susan Jebb, Dan Hamermesh, Melanie L?hrmann, Bruce Lyons, Theresa Marteau, Peter Moffatt, Moritz Mosenhauer, Vicki Pyne, Martin Roland, Richard Smith, Robert Sugden, Lise Vesterlund, the Co-Editors handling the manuscript, two anonymous reviewers and participants to presentations at Cambridge, East Anglia, Essen, Glasgow, Malaga, two Newcastle seminars, Nottingham, Reading, Royal Holloway, Toulouse, Queensland, Washington DC (Southern Economic Association), Wageningen (SABE/IAREP) and York for relevant encouragement and advice. We also thank Kajsa Berg and Jia Liu for research assistance. The usual disclaimer applies. Data collection took place while Zizzo and Parravano were based at the University of East Anglia, and the study protocol received approval from the University of East Anglia, School of Economics Ethics Committee (Application No: 0170).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Economic Science Association.

Keywords

taxes
signposting
healthy diet
nudges
public health

Access to Document

10.1007/s10683-020-09698-0Licence: Unspecified

Cite this

@article{a9e792849bf746ec908aa6ed4ead8e6a,

title = "The impact of taxation and signposting on diet: an online field study with breakfast cereals and soft drinks",

abstract = "We present a large scale study where a nationally representative sample of 1,000 participants were asked to make real purchases within an online supermarket platform. The study captured the effect of price changes, and of the signposting of such changes, for breakfast cereals and soft drinks. We find that such taxes are an effective means of altering food purchasing, with a 20% rate being sufficient to make a significant impact if (and only if) the tax is signposted. Signposting represents a complementary “nudge” policy that could enhance the impact of the tax, though its effectiveness depends on the product category.",

keywords = "taxes, signposting, healthy diet, nudges, public health",

author = "Zizzo, {Daniel John} and Melanie Parravano and Ryota Nakamura and Suzanna Forwood and Marc Suhrcke",

note = "Funding Information: This report is independent research commissioned and funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme (Policy Research Unit in Behaviour and Health (PR-UN-0409-10109)). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department of Health. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the UKCRC Centre for Diet and Physical Activity Research (CEDAR) and the ESRC (Network for Integrated Behavioural Science, ES/K002201/1). We thank Susan Jebb, Dan Hamermesh, Melanie L?hrmann, Bruce Lyons, Theresa Marteau, Peter Moffatt, Moritz Mosenhauer, Vicki Pyne, Martin Roland, Richard Smith, Robert Sugden, Lise Vesterlund, the Co-Editors handling the manuscript, two anonymous reviewers and participants to presentations at Cambridge, East Anglia, Essen, Glasgow, Malaga, two Newcastle seminars, Nottingham, Reading, Royal Holloway, Toulouse, Queensland, Washington DC (Southern Economic Association), Wageningen (SABE/IAREP) and York for relevant encouragement and advice. We also thank Kajsa Berg and Jia Liu for research assistance. The usual disclaimer applies. Data collection took place while Zizzo and Parravano were based at the University of East Anglia, and the study protocol received approval from the University of East Anglia, School of Economics Ethics Committee (Application No: 0170). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, Economic Science Association.",

year = "2021",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1007/s10683-020-09698-0",

language = "English",

volume = "24",

pages = "1294--1324",

journal = "Experimental Economics",

issn = "1386-4157",

publisher = "Springer New York",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The impact of taxation and signposting on diet: an online field study with breakfast cereals and soft drinks

AU - Zizzo, Daniel John

AU - Parravano, Melanie

AU - Nakamura , Ryota

AU - Forwood, Suzanna

AU - Suhrcke, Marc

N1 - Funding Information: This report is independent research commissioned and funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme (Policy Research Unit in Behaviour and Health (PR-UN-0409-10109)). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Department of Health. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the UKCRC Centre for Diet and Physical Activity Research (CEDAR) and the ESRC (Network for Integrated Behavioural Science, ES/K002201/1). We thank Susan Jebb, Dan Hamermesh, Melanie L?hrmann, Bruce Lyons, Theresa Marteau, Peter Moffatt, Moritz Mosenhauer, Vicki Pyne, Martin Roland, Richard Smith, Robert Sugden, Lise Vesterlund, the Co-Editors handling the manuscript, two anonymous reviewers and participants to presentations at Cambridge, East Anglia, Essen, Glasgow, Malaga, two Newcastle seminars, Nottingham, Reading, Royal Holloway, Toulouse, Queensland, Washington DC (Southern Economic Association), Wageningen (SABE/IAREP) and York for relevant encouragement and advice. We also thank Kajsa Berg and Jia Liu for research assistance. The usual disclaimer applies. Data collection took place while Zizzo and Parravano were based at the University of East Anglia, and the study protocol received approval from the University of East Anglia, School of Economics Ethics Committee (Application No: 0170). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, Economic Science Association.

PY - 2021/12

Y1 - 2021/12

N2 - We present a large scale study where a nationally representative sample of 1,000 participants were asked to make real purchases within an online supermarket platform. The study captured the effect of price changes, and of the signposting of such changes, for breakfast cereals and soft drinks. We find that such taxes are an effective means of altering food purchasing, with a 20% rate being sufficient to make a significant impact if (and only if) the tax is signposted. Signposting represents a complementary “nudge” policy that could enhance the impact of the tax, though its effectiveness depends on the product category.

AB - We present a large scale study where a nationally representative sample of 1,000 participants were asked to make real purchases within an online supermarket platform. The study captured the effect of price changes, and of the signposting of such changes, for breakfast cereals and soft drinks. We find that such taxes are an effective means of altering food purchasing, with a 20% rate being sufficient to make a significant impact if (and only if) the tax is signposted. Signposting represents a complementary “nudge” policy that could enhance the impact of the tax, though its effectiveness depends on the product category.

KW - taxes

KW - signposting

KW - healthy diet

KW - nudges

KW - public health

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/7be1b39a-61b9-3fec-ad07-4439612d86ae/

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099937075&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10683-020-09698-0

DO - 10.1007/s10683-020-09698-0

M3 - Article

SN - 1386-4157

VL - 24

SP - 1294

EP - 1324

JO - Experimental Economics

JF - Experimental Economics

IS - 4

ER -

The impact of taxation and signposting on diet: an online field study with breakfast cereals and soft drinks

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Research output

The impact of taxation and signposting on diet: an online field study with breakfast cereals and soft drinks

Cite this