Article for Economics Letters

This article written by the ERC describes the nature and impact of the research project 'Microeconomic Analysis of Prices, Food and Nutrition (MAPFAN)'

Presentation given at the Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, 12 March 2013

This briefing note considers the effectiveness of the proposed minimum unit price of alcohol.

Last week the Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs that he was determined to “deal with” the “problem of deeply discounted alcohol in supermarkets and other stores” and said that the Government was considering the results of a consultation into a proposed minimum unit price for alcohol. In this observation, IFS researchers consider the merits of such a policy and argue that taxing alcoholic drinks on the basis of their alcohol content, with higher tax rates on stronger than weaker drinks, would be more effective at targeting those drinking above recommended levels than would a minimum alcohol price.

Paper given at the Cardiff Business School, Wednesday 30th January 2013

Researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies have found some similarities as well as some stark differences between the response of households to the current recession and the previous two.

Presentation given at the Public Economics Lecture, November 2012 in Oxford and Cambridge

The Home Office today released a consultation on policies aimed at reducing the social costs associated with alcohol consumption. The headline-grabbing proposal is a 45p minimum unit price for alcohol in England and Wales. We find the policy would have a significant impact, affecting almost six in ten off-licence alcohol units. However, it would be preferable to establish a price floor for alcohol through a restructured alcohol tax system in which tax is related to alcohol content more directly and retailers are banned from selling alcohol at less than the tax due.

This report discusses why the government might want to intervene to reduce obesity, and what policy instruments are available.

Presentation to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Summer Institute, Boston

This presentations was given at the National Heart Forum meeting on 'What is the role of food taxes?' on 29 June 2012 in London.

These slides were presented at an IFS workshop, 'Resource Allocation within Households' on 30 March 2012.

This presentation was made at a workshop held at the Institute for Fiscal Studies about resource allocation within households in March 2012.

The Home Office have unveiled their alcohol strategy to reduce excess alcohol consumption. Notably, it includes a proposal to introduce a minimum price per alcohol unit in England and Wales, suggesting 40p as a likely rate. Analysing the detailed off-licence alcohol purchase data of more than 19,000 households, this observation argues that the policy would be a very significant intervention.

This paper considers what role in-home barcode scanner data could play in collecting household expenditure information as part of national budget surveys. One role is as a source of validation.

This presentation was given at a seminar at the University of Lancaster on a cross country comparison of demand for nutrients.

Oral evidence given to Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Select Committee: transcript.

We use detailed data recording off-licence purchases to assess which types of alcohol products, retailers and consumers would be most affected by reforms.

The UK Government has reformed beer duties and plans to ban the sale of alcohol in England and Wales for less than the total tax liable. These changes are minor: each affects just 1% of off-licence alcohol units sold. In Scotland, the Government has introduced a minimum alcohol pricing Bill which, if introduced across Britain, would directly affect the vast majority of off-licence drinkers and could transfer large sums to alcohol producers and retailers. But it is not clear that a minimum price is particularly well targeted and it may be preferable to increase drink prices by raising taxes and transferring money to the national coffers.

Yesterday, the Government published a 'call to action' which lays out its strategy for tackling obesity in England. One approach to tackling diet related health problems, which governments are increasingly turning to, is the use of fiscal measures. We look at some of the issues involved in designing a 'fat tax' and under what circumstances such a policy may be effective.

This presentation was given at the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics annual conference in Stockholm on 3rd September 2011.

This presentation was given to the Associate Parliamentary Food and Health Forum in the Commons in April 2011.

We calculate the impact of a 45p per unit minimum price and describe how different households and retailers would be affected.

These slides were presented at the Research Methods Festival 2010, St Catherine's College, Oxford.

Workshop on econometrics of demand

This presentation was given on 21st May 2008, at the University of York

This article looks at the increase in obesity, its possible causes and potential solutions to the problem.

In this paper we consider consumer benefits from increased competition in a differentiated product setting: the spread of nontraditional retail outlets.

We study a unique data set that collects recall and diary data from the same households.

We show that as household size increases, households substitute away from prepared foods and towards ingredients.

This Briefing Note looks at the potential for the introduction of a 'fat tax' into the UK in an effort to reduce the growing prevalence of obesity in Britain. This Briefing Note looks at trends in UK obesity and examines evidence on eating habits and exercise in order to see whether trends here can account for what we see happening to obesity. We go on to review some of the key economic reasons behind why we might be concerned about obesity and why we might consider there to be a case for government intervention. We also discuss how food is currently taxed and the various ways in which a 'fat tax' might be introduced, looking at particular issues the government might need to address should it wish to introduce one. We finish by presenting some simple analysis of a hypothetical 'fat tax' in terms of how it might impact differently on the rich and the poor.

This paper investigates the patterns and extent of differences in the prices paid for foods, and for the nutrients they contain, amongst households in the UK.

Since the completion of the Single Market in 1992 it has become easier for people in the UK to take advantage of lower priced goods across the border. Alcohol is one good where there has been particular concern about the level of cross-border shopping because of differences in tax rates between the UK and France. If the Chancellor wants to reduce the amount of cross-border shopping by cutting duty, the important policy question is whether overall these two effects would have a positive or negative effect on revenue.

This paper addresses the issue of whether tax revenue from alcohol lost through cross-border shopping could be recouped by cutting excise duties.

Smoothed estimates of the complex relationships between age and intakes of energy, fat, calcium and vitamin C are obtained for males and females from British National Food Survey data covering the period 197494.

Taxes on alcohol are among the oldest in the UK and are still an important source of tax revenue.

This report looks at some of the economic issues surrounding the current system of alcohol taxes in the UK and considers how far current taxes on alcohol are sustainable as European integration proceeds.