Soft Drink Taxes

Listed below are publications and working papers about soft drink taxes in reverse chronological order.  The links for the published papers will direct you to the published abstracts on the journals’ websites and the full-text is available with a subscription (institutional or personal) to the journal.  The working papers are the versions of the paper prior to publication and are accessible by clicking on the link to the paper.

  1. “Review: Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: Political Economy, and Effects of Prices, Purchases, and Consumption,” (with J. Cawley), Food Policy, 2023, forthcoming.
    1. Accompanying virtual special collection, co-edited with J. Cawley, at Food Policy.
  2. “The Pass-Through of a Tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in Boulder, Colorado,” (with J. Cawley, D. Jones, and C. Lensing), American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2021, 103(3), 987-1005.
    1. NBER Working Paper 25050.
    2. Data and code are available as supporting information files on the journal’s website.
  3. “The Impact of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes on Purchases: Evidence from Four City-Level Taxes in the US,” (with J. Cawley and D. Jones), Health Economics, 2020, 29(10), 1289-1306.
    1. NBER Working Paper 26393.
  4. “Oakland’s Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax: Impacts on Prices, Purchases, and Consumption by Adults and Children,” (with J. Cawley, A. Hill, and D. Jones), Economics and Human Biology, 2020, 37, 100865, 1-16.
    1. NBER Working Paper 26233.
    2. Data and code are available through ICPSR.
  5. “The Impact of the Philadelphia Beverage Tax on Purchases and Consumption by Adults and Children,” (with J. Cawley, A. Hill, and D. Jones), Journal of Health Economics, 2019, 67, 102225, 1-16.
    1. NBER Working Paper 25052.
    2. Summary
    3. Summary of results from Philadelphia from both papers
    4. “On The Evidence” podcast describing results from Philadelphia and Oakland: Apple, Google 
    5. Data and code are available through ICPSR.
  6. “The Impact of the Philadelphia Beverage Tax on Prices and Product Availability,” (with J. Cawley, A. Hill, and D. Jones), Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2020, 39(3), 605-628.
    1. NBER Working Paper 24990.
    2. Summary
    3. NBER Digest article
    4. JPAM At A Glance
    5. Data and code are available through ICPSR.
  7. “How Retailers Responded to Taxes on Sweetened Beverages: A Tale of Two Cities,” (with J. Holdbrook, D. Petersen, and D. Jones). Mathematica Issue Brief.
  8. “The Economics of Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: A Review of the Effects on Prices, Sales, Cross-Border Shopping, and Consumption,” (with J. Cawley, A.M. Thow, and K. Wen), Annual Review of Nutrition, 201, 39, 317-338.
  9. “Pass-Through of a Tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages at the Philadelphia International Airport“, (with J. Cawley and B. Willage), JAMA, 2018, 319(3), 305-306.
    1. Data file and do file
  10. “The Pass-Through of Taxes on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages to Retail Prices: The Case of Berkeley, California,” (with J. Cawley), Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2017, 36(2), 303-326.
    1. NBER Working Paper 21465.
    2. Data and code files.
  11. “Non-Linear Effects of Soda Taxes on Consumption and Weight Outcomes,” (with J. Fletcher and N. Tefft), Health Economics, 2015, 24(5), 566-582.
    1. Working paper.
    2. Data: Tax rates and readme file.
  12. “Substitution Patterns Can Limit the Effects of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes on Obesity” (with J. Fletcher and N. Tefft), Preventing Chronic Disease, 2013, 10: 120195.
  13. “Are Soft Drink Taxes an Effective Mechanism for Reducing Obesity?” (with J. Fletcher and N. Tefft), Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2011, 30(3), 655-662.
    1. This article is part of a Point-Counterpoint in JPAM on health policy and sugar-sweetened beverages.
    2. The response essay is: “The Proof is in the Pudding: Response to Chaloupka, Powell, and Chriqui” (with J. Fletcher and N. Tefft), Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 30(3), 664-665.
  14. “The Effects of Soft Drink Taxes on Child and Adolescent Consumption and Weight Outcomes” (with J. Fletcher and N. Tefft), Journal of Public Economics, 2010, 94(11-12), 967-974.
    1. WP Version: Emory University Working Paper 09-08.
    2. Data: Tax rates and readme file.
    3. Data: NHANES files
  15. “Taxing Soft Drinks and Restricting Access to Vending Machines to Curb Child Obesity” (with J. Fletcher and N. Tefft), Health Affairs, 2010, 29(5), 1059-1066.
    1. Data: Tax rates and readme file.
  16. “Can Soft Drink Taxes Reduce Population Weight?” (with J. Fletcher and N. Tefft), Contemporary Economic Policy, 2010, 28(1), 23-35.
    1. WP Version: Emory University Working Paper 08-08.
    2. Data: Tax rates and readme file.