Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33582928›Full record

ArticleHealth economics review2021

Grocery food taxes and U.S. county obesity and diabetes rates.

Lingxiao Wang, Yuqing Zheng, Steven Buck, Diansheng Dong, Harry M Kaiser

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Article in Health economics review, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 citing paper in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Lingxiao WangDepartment of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA.
Yuqing ZhengDepartment of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA. yuqing.zheng@uky.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9812-5404
Steven BuckDepartment of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA.
Diansheng DongDepartment of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, U.S, Washington, DC, 20024, USA.
Harry M KaiserThe Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.

Funding

Economic Research Service 58-4000-8-0020
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundGrocery food taxes represent a stable tax revenue stream for state and municipal government during times of adverse economic shocks such as that observed under the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Previous research, however, suggests a possible mechanism through which grocery taxes may adversely affect health. Our objectives are to document the spatial and temporal variation in grocery taxes and to empirically examine the statistical relationship between county-level grocery taxes and obesity and diabetes.

methodsWe collect and assemble a novel national dataset of annual county and state-level grocery taxes from 2009 through 2016. We link this data to three-year, county-level estimates based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on rates of obesity and diabetes and provide a nation-wide spatial characterization of grocery taxes and these two health outcomes. Using a county-level fixed effects estimator, we estimate the effect of grocery taxes on obesity and diabetes rates, also controlling for a subset of potential confounders that vary over time.

resultsWe find a 1 percentage point increase in grocery taxes is associated with 0.588 and 0.215 percentage point increases in the county-level obesity and diabetes rates.

conclusionCounties with grocery taxes have increased prevalence of obesity and diabetes. We estimate the economic burden of increased obesity and diabetes rates resulting from grocery taxes to be $5.9 billion. Based on this estimate, the benefit-cost ratio of removing grocery taxes across the United States only considering the effects on obesity and diabetes rates is 1.90.

Indexed as

DiabetesGrocery taxObesity

Identifiers

PMID33582928
PMCPMC7882053

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LicenceCC BY
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