Even if export taxes are frequently used, they have not been the main concerns for trade negotiators and academic researchers contrarily to tariffs. This paper aims at providing the rationales for the use of export taxes that are not obvious considering mercantilist driven trade policies. We summarize the effects of export taxes using both a partial and a general equilibrium theoretical model. ...

There has been surprisingly little research to date on the supply-side role of food manufacturers on equilibrium health outcomes for consumers. In this letter we consider an oligopoly model in which food processors choose the health composition of manufactured food. We show that price competition between food processors leads to unhealthy food composition in the market equilibrium, even under c...

BACKGROUND Obesity implies costs not only for the individual but also for society. The authors explore the opinions of stakeholders on the potential of taxes or subsidies, as measures for tackling obesity in Europe. METHODS Structured interviews were conducted using Multicriteria Mapping, a computer-based, decision-support tool, with 189 interviewees drawn from 21 different stakeholder catego...

We perform a dynamic general equilibrium analysis of the observed increase in the weight of the average American adult over the 1960-2005 period. Existing evidence suggests that this fifteen pound increase in weight can be attributed to the dramatic raise in the consumption of foods prepared away from home, which resulted in higher caloric intake. We evaluate the impact of the observed trends i...

1 n engl j med 10.1056/nejmp0902392 T obesity epidemic has inspired calls for public health measures to prevent diet-related diseases. One controversial idea is now the subject of public debate: food taxes. Forty states already have small taxes on sugared beverages and snack foods, but in the past year, Maine and New York have proposed large taxes on sugared beverages, and similar discussions h...

BACKGROUND Taxes on alcohol and tobacco have long been an important means of raising revenues for public spending in many countries but there is increasing interest in using taxes on these, and other unhealthy products, to achieve public health goals. We present a systematic review of the research on health taxes, and aim to generate insights into how such taxes can: (i) reduce consumption of t...

CONTEXT Pricing policies have been posited as potential policy instruments to address the increasing prevalence of obesity. This article examines whether altering the cost of unhealthy, energy-dense foods, compared with healthy, less-dense foods through the use of fiscal pricing (tax or subsidy) policy instruments would, in fact, change food consumption patterns and overall diet enough to signi...

This paper addresses the potential for using economic regulation, e.g. taxes or subsidies, as instruments to combat the increasing problems of inappropriate diets, leading to health problems such as obesity, diabetes 2, cardiovascular diseases etc. in most countries. Such policy measures may be considered as alternatives or supplements to other regulation instruments, including information camp...

Up to three stores in each of 21 communities were surveyed during December of 1999 for the cost of a specific set of food and non-food items. The 104 food items selected were taken, with some modification, from the USDA Low-cost Food Plan which is itself based on a nationwide survey of eating habits of Americans, conducted in 1977-78. In addition, the costs of such items as water, propane and e...

This Research Brief, the second in our series on immigrant children, draws on new results from Census 2000 data to examine differences in the poverty rates between children in immigrant families and children in native-born families. The brief reports results for the official poverty measure, but also for two alternatives to the official measure. Most notably, the official poverty measure does n...