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Sockerskatt – en möjlig väg att styra svenskarnas sockerintag mot en mer hälsosam nivå?

Artursson, Erik LU and Holmgren, Josephine LU (2013) NEKH01 20131
Department of Economics
Abstract
Taxing sugar-sweetened foods has become a relevant question in Sweden. Proofs of this are the population’s huge intake of added sugar, an increasing share of obesity and large related medical treatment costs. This thesis gives a hands-on suggestion of how a tax on sugar-sweetened foods in Sweden could be constructed. The goal of this study is to decrease the sugar intake by 70 percentages of five different food groups, all with a high value of added sugar. We have been using two different models for tax estimation. The first model estimates an in-common tax rate for several sugar-sweetened products, while the other one estimates individual taxes for each analyzed group of foods. The data material is based upon Swedish statistics of prices,... (More)
Taxing sugar-sweetened foods has become a relevant question in Sweden. Proofs of this are the population’s huge intake of added sugar, an increasing share of obesity and large related medical treatment costs. This thesis gives a hands-on suggestion of how a tax on sugar-sweetened foods in Sweden could be constructed. The goal of this study is to decrease the sugar intake by 70 percentages of five different food groups, all with a high value of added sugar. We have been using two different models for tax estimation. The first model estimates an in-common tax rate for several sugar-sweetened products, while the other one estimates individual taxes for each analyzed group of foods. The data material is based upon Swedish statistics of prices, earnings and consumption data reaching from 1980 to 2011. By analyzing the price elasticities of the examined food groups, we found that a tax would reduce the demand of soda, candy (including chocolate), pastries (including cookies) and buns. The chosen model was to impose individual ad-valorem taxes for each of the four groups. The tax rates needed in order to lower consumption, and also the intake of added sugar, by 70 percentages would be 78, 422, 126 and 67 percentages respectively. The reason for not choosing the in-common tax was due to large differences in price elasticities. This caused the tax construction to be inefficient by its lesser effect on consumption patterns. The results with taxes reaching all the way from 67 up to 422 percentages, suggests that to change consumption patterns require substantial efforts in taxation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Artursson, Erik LU and Holmgren, Josephine LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
En studie om vilken prisökning som skulle krävas för att nå rekommenderat intag
course
NEKH01 20131
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
sugar tax, sugar sweetened foods, Price elasticity, health economics.
language
English
id
3878623
date added to LUP
2013-06-24 12:27:58
date last changed
2013-10-08 13:08:11
@misc{3878623,
  abstract     = {{Taxing sugar-sweetened foods has become a relevant question in Sweden. Proofs of this are the population’s huge intake of added sugar, an increasing share of obesity and large related medical treatment costs. This thesis gives a hands-on suggestion of how a tax on sugar-sweetened foods in Sweden could be constructed. The goal of this study is to decrease the sugar intake by 70 percentages of five different food groups, all with a high value of added sugar. We have been using two different models for tax estimation. The first model estimates an in-common tax rate for several sugar-sweetened products, while the other one estimates individual taxes for each analyzed group of foods. The data material is based upon Swedish statistics of prices, earnings and consumption data reaching from 1980 to 2011. By analyzing the price elasticities of the examined food groups, we found that a tax would reduce the demand of soda, candy (including chocolate), pastries (including cookies) and buns. The chosen model was to impose individual ad-valorem taxes for each of the four groups. The tax rates needed in order to lower consumption, and also the intake of added sugar, by 70 percentages would be 78, 422, 126 and 67 percentages respectively. The reason for not choosing the in-common tax was due to large differences in price elasticities. This caused the tax construction to be inefficient by its lesser effect on consumption patterns. The results with taxes reaching all the way from 67 up to 422 percentages, suggests that to change consumption patterns require substantial efforts in taxation.}},
  author       = {{Artursson, Erik and Holmgren, Josephine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Sockerskatt – en möjlig väg att styra svenskarnas sockerintag mot en mer hälsosam nivå?}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}