I12 - Health BehaviorReturn

Sweetened beverages are a significant source of added sugar in the diet and thus a major risk factor for obesity and serious diseases with significant societal costs. In order to curb their consumption, special excise duties have been imposed on them in a number of countries around the world. The aim of our research was to test the effectiveness of a tax on sweetened beverages using real data on the global prevalence of type 2 diabetes. We tested a relationship between diabetes prevalence and the tax assuming that the prevalence of the disease depends on the income of the country. Our analysis revealed a statistically significant, but contrary to expectations, positive relationship between disease prevalence and the existence of tax in richer countries. This suggests that the tax on sweetened beverages is not high enough to make demand price elastic, or that we need to wait a longer time before the tax is effective, or that the decline in diabetes prevalence is not yet large enough?