IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/earnsa/358848.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How effective are VAT reforms in improving healthy dietary choices by EU consumers?

Author

Listed:
  • Farkas, Beatrice
  • Pérez-Domínguez, Ignacio
  • Pieralli, Simone
  • Elleby,Christian

Abstract

[EN] Governments are increasingly considering fiscal instruments to improve dietary health. This paper quantifies the medium-term impacts on European food markets of a differentiated VAT policy that promotes healthy food consumption while discouraging intake of less nutritious products. Scenarios involve reduced VAT on grains, pulses, and poultry, and increased rates on beef, pork, sugar, and high-fat dairy. Our results show a significant decline in domestic consumption of targeted foods. However, part of this reduction is exported to other markets – a phenomenon described as “health leakage,” raising questions about the broader effectiveness of such fiscal interventions. [ES] Los gobiernos consideran cada vez más el uso de instrumentos fiscales para mejorar la salud alimentaria. Este artículo cuantifica los impactos a medio plazo en los mercados alimentarios europeos de una política diferenciada del IVA que promueve el consumo de alimentos saludables y desincentiva la ingesta de productos menos nutritivos. Los escenarios analizados incluyen una reducción del IVA sobre cereales, legumbres y carne de ave, y un aumento sobre carne de vacuno, cerdo, azúcar y productos lácteos con alto contenido graso. Los resultados muestran una disminución significativa del consumo interno, aunque parte de esta reducción se exporta a otros mercados, un fenómeno que denominamos “health leakage”, lo que plantea dudas sobre la efectividad global de este tipo de políticas fiscales.

Suggested Citation

  • Farkas, Beatrice & Pérez-Domínguez, Ignacio & Pieralli, Simone & Elleby,Christian, 2025. "How effective are VAT reforms in improving healthy dietary choices by EU consumers?," Economia Agraria y Recursos Naturales, Spanish Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 25(01), June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:earnsa:358848
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.358848
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/358848/files/EARN_25_01_03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.358848?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grossman, Michael & Tekin, Erdal & Wada, Roy, 2014. "Food prices and body fatness among youths," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 4-19.
    2. Stefan Bach & Niklas Isaak, 2017. "Value-Added Tax Cuts Bring Greatest Relief to Lower and Middle Income Households," DIW Economic Bulletin, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 7(31/32), pages 315-321.
    3. Gerald Nelson & Jessica Bogard & Keith Lividini & Joanne Arsenault & Malcolm Riley & Timothy B. Sulser & Daniel Mason-D’Croz & Brendan Power & David Gustafson & Mario Herrero & Keith Wiebe & Karen Coo, 2018. "Income growth and climate change effects on global nutrition security to mid-century," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 1(12), pages 773-781, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Stads, Gert-Jan & Wiebe, Keith D. & Nin-Pratt, Alejandro & Sulser, Timothy B. & Benfica, Rui & Reda, Fasil & Khetarpal, Ravi, 2022. "Research for the future: Investments for efficiency, sustainability, and equity," IFPRI book chapters, in: 2022 Global food policy report: Climate change and food systems, chapter 4, pages 38-47, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Anthony M Yezer & Stephen J Popick, 2017. "Climate Preferences, Obesity, and Unobserved Heterogeneity in Cities," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 47(3), pages 309-329, Fall.
    3. Leah Salm & Nicholas Nisbett & Laura Cramer & Stuart Gillespie & Philip Thornton, 2021. "How climate change interacts with inequity to affect nutrition," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(2), March.
    4. Sands, Ronald & Beach, Robert, 2022. "Nutrition Indicators for CGE Models," Conference papers 333467, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    5. Jan Marcus & Thomas Siedler & Nicolas R. Ziebarth, 2022. "The Long-Run Effects of Sports Club Vouchers for Primary School Children," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 128-165, August.
    6. Syed Abu Shoaib & Mohammad Zaved Kaiser Khan & Nahid Sultana & Taufique H. Mahmood, 2021. "Quantifying Uncertainty in Food Security Modeling," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, January.
    7. Xin Xu & Jayachandran N Variyam & Zhenxiang Zhao & Frank J Chaloupka, 2014. "Relative Food Prices and Obesity in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: 1976-2001," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, December.
    8. Wada, Roy & Han, Euna & Powell, Lisa M., 2015. "Associations between soda prices and intake: Evidence from 24-h dietary recall data," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 54-60.
    9. repec:osf:socarx:h2g6r_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Stephen Popick & Anthony M. Yezer, 2015. "Amenity, Diversity and Obesity: Unobserved Heretogeneity in Cities," Working Papers 2015-12, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    11. Loureiro, Maria L. & Rahmani, Djamel, 2016. "The incidence of calorie labeling on fast food choices: A comparison between stated preferences and actual choices," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 82-93.
    12. Chan, Chin Yee & Prager, Steven & Balie, Jean & Kozicka, Marta & Hareau, Guy & Valera, Harold Glenn & Tran, Nhuong & Wiebe, Keith & Diagne, Mandiaye & Alene, Arega, 2021. "The Future of Food Security, Nutrition and Health for Agri-food Systems Transformation," SocArXiv qgn9u, Center for Open Science.
    13. Cenacchi, Nicola & Dunston, Shahnila & Gueneau, Arthur & Mason-D’Croz, Daniel & Mishra, Abhijeet & Pitois, Gauthier & Robertson, Richard D. & Robinson, Sherman & Rosegrant, Mark W. & Sulser, Timothy, 2024. "The International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT): Model documentation for version 3.6," Research reports 148953, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. Learnmore Mwadzingeni & Victor Afari-Sefa & Hussein Shimelis & Sognigbé N’Danikou & Sandiswa Figlan & Lutz Depenbusch & Admire I.T. Shayanowako & Takemore Chagomoka & Malven Mushayi & Pepijn Schreinem, 2021. "Unpacking the value of traditional African vegetables for food and nutrition security," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(5), pages 1215-1226, October.
    15. Hoffmann, Farina & Koellner, Thomas & Kastner, Thomas, 2021. "The micronutrient content of the European Union's agricultural trade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    16. Olivia Serdeczny & Marina Andrijevic & Claire Fyson & Tabea Lissner & Inga Menke & Carl-Friedrich Schleussner & Emily Theokritoff & Adelle Thomas, 2024. "Climatic risks to adaptive capacity," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16, January.
    17. Ochieng, Justus & Schreinemachers, Pepijn & Ogada, Maurice & Dinssa, Fekadu Fufa & Barnos, William & Mndiga, Hassan, 2019. "Adoption of improved amaranth varieties and good agricultural practices in East Africa," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 187-194.
    18. Lisa M. Powell & Roy Wada & Tamkeen Khan & Sherry L. Emery, 2017. "Food and beverage television advertising exposure and youth consumption, body mass index and adiposity outcomes," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(2), pages 345-364, May.
    19. Sulser, Timothy & Wiebe, Keith D. & Dunston, Shahnila & Cenacchi, Nicola & Nin-Pratt, Alejandro & Mason-D’Croz, Daniel & Robertson, Richard D. & Willenbockel, Dirk & Rosegrant, Mark W., 2021. "Climate change and hunger: Estimating costs of adaptation in the agrifood system," Food policy reports 9780896294165, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. Emily Injete Amondo & Emmanuel Nshakira-Rukundo & Alisher Mirzabaev, 2023. "The effect of extreme weather events on child nutrition and health," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 15(3), pages 571-596, June.
    21. Buttet, Sebastien & Dolar, Veronika, 2015. "Toward a quantitative theory of food consumption choices and body weight," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 143-156.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ags:earnsa:358848. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeeaaea.html .

    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.