Fat tax, subsidy or both? The role of information and children's pester power in food choice

Abstract

Using a discrete choice experiment with real economic incentives, this paper studies how food fiscal policies and external influences (such as pestering and information) can affect parental choice of food for their child. Using pairs of a parent and child, the experimental design varies the food prices of healthier and unhealthier alternatives of food products for children as part of specific food fiscal policies. We then examine the interplay of children's pester power as well as information about the fiscal policies. The results from our lab experiment suggest that (a) implementing a fat tax and a subsidy simultaneously can shift parental behavior to healthier food products to a greater degree than a fat tax or a subsidy alone, (b) providing information regarding the food fiscal policies can further increase the impact of the intervention, and (c) child pestering is one of the causes of the moderate effectiveness of the policies as it strongly affects parents in making unhealthier choices.

Framing and signalling effects of taxes on sugary drinks: A discrete choice experiment among households in Great Britain

“…Because a subsample like this is rarely studied, there is limited literature to compare our findings with. The closest experimental study to ours, analysing the response to fiscal policies in parental choices between healthier and less healthy foods for children in Greece, concluded as well that providing information about the policy further increased the impact of the policy intervention (Papoutsi et al, 2015). In an evaluation of the effects of the SSB tax in Philadelphia, Cawley, Frisvold, Hill, and Jones (2019) looked at the changes in purchases and consumption of beverages of households who have children.…”

“…There was no equivalent evidence for taxes, because few studies have tested their effect in combination with framing or information (Afshin et al, 2017). Meanwhile, the behavioural economics literature also provides mixed evidence on the effectiveness of 'priming' and 'salience' nudges to encourage consumers to healthier choices (Papoutsi, Nayga, Lazaridis, & Drichoutis, 2015;Seah et al, 2018;Wilson, Buckley, Buckley, & Bogomolova, 2016).…”

Nutrition Profile of Products with Cartoon Animations on the Packaging: A UK Cross-Sectional Survey of Foods and Drinks

“…This could be an extension of current restrictions on the use of licensed characters and celebrities popular with children (under 16 years) in broadcast advertising on HFSS food and drink. Studies have demonstrated the power of children's purchasing request behaviour, i.e., pester power, and how it strongly influences parents in making unhealthier choices [29][30][31]. Therefore, placing such restrictions could potentially have a positive effect on subsequent purchasing habits, as children are less likely to pester their parents into buying them.…”

The impact of environmental recall and carbon taxation on the carbon footprint of supermarket shopping

“…In the particular context of food consumption, policy has focused on nutrient-based taxes, targeting directly e.g. alcohol (Panzone 2012), sugar (Zizzo et al 2016), or fat content (Papoutsi et al 2015). In contrast, limited research has focused on the impact of carbon taxes on food consumption (e.g.…”