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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Daniel John Zizzo Open the ORCID record for Daniel John Zizzo [Opens in a new window] ,
Melanie Parravano Open the ORCID record for Melanie Parravano [Opens in a new window] ,
Ryota Nakamura Open the ORCID record for Ryota Nakamura [Opens in a new window] ,
Suzanna Forwood Open the ORCID record for Suzanna Forwood [Opens in a new window]  and
Marc Suhrcke Open the ORCID record for Marc Suhrcke [Opens in a new window]
Daniel John Zizzo*
Affiliation:
University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
Melanie Parravano
Affiliation:
BHRU and Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Ryota Nakamura
Affiliation:
Hitotsubashi University, Kunitachi, Japan
Suzanna Forwood
Affiliation:
Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
Marc Suhrcke
Affiliation:
University of York, York, UK Luxembourg Institute of Socio-economic Research, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

We present a large scale study where a nationally representative sample of 1000 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

TaxesSignpostingHealthy dietNudgesPublic health

JEL classification

D12: Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis H31: Household I12: Health Behavior C93: Field Experiments
Type
Original Paper
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , December 2021 , pp. 1294 - 1324
Copyright
Copyright © 2021 Economic Science Association

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Footnotes

Supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10683-020-09698-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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