IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v93y2020ics0306919220301081.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explaining resistance to regulatory interventions to prevent obesity and improve nutrition: A case-study of a sugar-sweetened beverages tax in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Sainsbury, Emma
  • Magnusson, Roger
  • Thow, Anne-Marie
  • Colagiuri, Stephen

Abstract

Globally, 43 jurisdictions have implemented a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) for obesity prevention; however, there is significant political resistance to adopting such a policy in Australia. This paper applies Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) to the case study of an SSB tax in Australia to identify barriers and enablers to policy adoption, and to inform future advocacy strategies in local and international contexts. A systematic search was conducted of scholarly literature, parliamentary documents and media articles relating to an SSB tax. Information retrieved was analysed and integrated under the ‘problem’, ‘policy’ or ‘political’ streams of the MSF. The findings reveal that Australia is a substantial way from having the conditions in place where a tax might be successfully implemented due to industry influence, fragmented advocacy efforts, political opposition to paternalistic policies, conflicting political agendas, and inadequate pressure for change from civil society. Opening a policy window will require a shift in political ownership of the obesity problem, or the coupling of an SSB tax to an alternative problem. The public health community also needs to agree that an SSB tax deserves greater priority, relative to alternative policies for addressing obesity, and to agree on the most effective tax design.

Suggested Citation

  • Sainsbury, Emma & Magnusson, Roger & Thow, Anne-Marie & Colagiuri, Stephen, 2020. "Explaining resistance to regulatory interventions to prevent obesity and improve nutrition: A case-study of a sugar-sweetened beverages tax in Australia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:93:y:2020:i:c:s0306919220301081
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101904
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919220301081
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101904?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Baker, Phillip & Gill, Timothy & Friel, Sharon & Carey, Gemma & Kay, Adrian, 2017. "Generating political priority for regulatory interventions targeting obesity prevention: an Australian case study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 141-149.
    2. Samantha L. Mosier, 2013. "Cookies, Candy, and Coke: Examining State Sugar-Sweetened-Beverage Tax Policy from a Multiple Streams Approach," International Review of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 93-120, April.
    3. J Lennert Veerman & Gary Sacks & Nicole Antonopoulos & Jane Martin, 2016. "The Impact of a Tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on Health and Health Care Costs: A Modelling Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-10, April.
    4. Hagenaars, Luc Louis & Jeurissen, Patrick Paulus Theodoor & Klazinga, Niek Sieds, 2017. "The taxation of unhealthy energy-dense foods (EDFs) and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs): An overview of patterns observed in the policy content and policy context of 13 case studies," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(8), pages 887-894.
    5. Anurag Sharma & Katharina Hauck & Bruce Hollingsworth & Luigi Siciliani, 2014. "The Effects Of Taxing Sugar‐Sweetened Beverages Across Different Income Groups," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(9), pages 1159-1184, September.
    6. Lynn D Silver & Shu Wen Ng & Suzanne Ryan-Ibarra & Lindsey Smith Taillie & Marta Induni & Donna R Miles & Jennifer M Poti & Barry M Popkin, 2017. "Changes in prices, sales, consumer spending, and beverage consumption one year after a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Berkeley, California, US: A before-and-after study," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-19, April.
    7. Jonathan Pincus, 2018. "Grattan Institute's Case for Sugar Tax Is Not Proven," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 51(1), pages 41-51, March.
    8. Falbe, J. & Thompson, H.R. & Becker, C.M. & Rojas, N. & McCulloch, C.E. & Madsen, K.A., 2016. "Impact of the Berkeley excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 106(10), pages 1865-1871.
    9. Bonnet, Céline & Réquillart, Vincent, 2013. "Tax incidence with strategic firms in the soft drink market," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 77-88.
    10. Anita Lal & Ana Maria Mantilla-Herrera & Lennert Veerman & Kathryn Backholer & Gary Sacks & Marjory Moodie & Mohammad Siahpush & Rob Carter & Anna Peeters, 2017. "Modelled health benefits of a sugar-sweetened beverage tax across different socioeconomic groups in Australia: A cost-effectiveness and equity analysis," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-17, June.
    11. Tonatiuh Barrientos-Gutierrez & Rodrigo Zepeda-Tello & Eliane R Rodrigues & Arantxa Colchero-Aragonés & Rosalba Rojas-Martínez & Eduardo Lazcano-Ponce & Mauricio Hernández-Ávila & Juan Rivera-Dommarco, 2017. "Expected population weight and diabetes impact of the 1-peso-per-litre tax to sugar sweetened beverages in Mexico," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-15, May.
    12. Nomaguchi, Takeshi & Cunich, Michelle & Zapata-Diomedi, Belen & Veerman, J. Lennert, 2017. "The impact on productivity of a hypothetical tax on sugar-sweetened beverages," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(6), pages 715-725.
    13. Jeremy Shiffman & Stephanie Smith, 2007. "Generation of Political Priority for Global Health Initiatives: A Framework and Case Study of Maternal Mortality," Working Papers 129, Center for Global Development.
    14. Vartanian, L.R. & Schwartz, M.B. & Brownell, K.D., 2007. "Effects of soft drink consumption on nutrition and health: A systematic review and meta-analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(4), pages 667-675.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cawley, John & Frisvold, David, 2023. "Review: Taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages: Political economy, and effects on prices, purchases, and consumption," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kao, Kai-Erh & Jones, Amanda C. & Ohinmaa, Arto & Paulden, Mike, 2020. "The health and financial impacts of a sugary drink tax across different income groups in Canada," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    2. Haeck, Catherine & Lawson, Nicholas & Poirier, Krystel, 2022. "Estimating consumer preferences for different beverages using the BLP approach," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    3. Powell, Lisa M. & Leider, Julien & Léger, Pierre Thomas, 2020. "The impact of the Cook County, IL, Sweetened Beverage Tax on beverage prices," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    4. Fabrice Etilé & Anurag Sharma, 2015. "Do High Consumers of Sugar‐Sweetened Beverages Respond Differently to Price Changes? A Finite Mixture IV‐Tobit Approach," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(9), pages 1147-1163, September.
    5. Peter Lloyd & Donald MacLaren, 2019. "Should We Tax Sugar and If So How?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 52(1), pages 19-40, March.
    6. Daniel John Zizzo & Melanie Parravano & Ryota Nakamura & Suzanna Forwood & Marc Suhrcke, 2021. "The impact of taxation and signposting on diet: an online field study with breakfast cereals and soft drinks," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 24(4), pages 1294-1324, December.
    7. Cornelsen, Laura & Smith, Richard D., 2018. "Viewpoint: Soda taxes – Four questions economists need to address," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 138-142.
    8. Catherine Haeck & Nicholas Lawson & Krystel Poirier, 2022. "Estimating consumer preferences for different beverages using the BLP approach," Working Papers 22-01, Research Group on Human Capital, University of Quebec in Montreal's School of Management.
    9. Libby Hattersley & Alan Fuchs & Alberto Gonima & Lynn Silver & Kate Mandeville, 2020. "Business, Employment, and Productivity Impacts of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Taxes," World Bank Publications - Reports 34082, The World Bank Group.
    10. Powell, Lisa M. & Leider, Julien, 2020. "The impact of Seattle’s Sweetened Beverage Tax on beverage prices and volume sold," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    11. Lluc Puig-Codina & Jaime Pinilla & Jaume Puig-Junoy, 2021. "The impact of taxing sugar-sweetened beverages on cola purchasing in Catalonia: an approach to causal inference with time series cross-sectional data," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(1), pages 155-168, February.
    12. Jakina Debnam, 2017. "Selection Effects and Heterogeneous Demand Responses to the Berkeley Soda Tax Vote," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1172-1187.
    13. Neuhofer, Zachary & McFadden, Brandon R. & Rihn, Alicia & Wei, Xuan & Khachatryan, Hayk & House, Lisa, 2020. "Can the updated nutrition facts label decrease sugar-sweetened beverage consumption?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    14. Hannah G Lawman & Sara N Bleich & Jiali Yan & Michael T LeVasseur & Nandita Mitra & Christina A Roberto, 2019. "Unemployment claims in Philadelphia one year after implementation of the sweetened beverage tax," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-10, March.
    15. Saha, Sanjib & Nordström, Jonas & Scarborough, Peter & Thunström, Linda & Gerdtham, Ulf-G., 2021. "In search of an appropriate mix of taxes and subsidies on nutrients and food: A modelling study of the effectiveness on health-related consumption and mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    16. Fabrice Etilé & Sébastien Lecocq & Christine Boizot-Szantai, 2021. "Market heterogeneity and the distributional incidence of soft-drink taxes: evidence from France [Regressive sin taxes, with an application to the optimal soda tax]," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 48(4), pages 915-939.
    17. Emily Wang & Christian Rojas & Francesca Colantuoni, 2017. "Heterogeneous Behavior, Obesity, and Storability in the Demand for Soft Drinks," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(1), pages 18-33.
    18. Zhai, Tianchang & Li, Lei & Wang, Jingjing & Si, Wei, 2022. "Will the consumption tax on sugar-sweetened beverages help promote healthy beverage consumption? Evidence from urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    19. Pierre Dubois & Rachel Griffith & Martin O'Connell, 2020. "How Well Targeted Are Soda Taxes?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(11), pages 3661-3704, November.
    20. Rebecca L. C. Taylor & Scott Kaplan & Sofia B. Villas‐Boas & Kevin Jung, 2019. "Soda Wars: The Effect Of A Soda Tax Election On University Beverage Sales," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(3), pages 1480-1496, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:93:y:2020:i:c:s0306919220301081. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.