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Department of Economics

Giovanni Mellace

Should We Tax Unhealthy Food Consumption

Grant

Giovanni Mellace
DKK 1,905,198
DFF 

Should We Tax Unhealthy Food Consumption

In the attempt to reduce unhealthy food consumption, Denmark in October 2011 became the first country to introduce a tax on saturated fat, better known as the “fat tax”. In January 2013, the tax was abolished only fifteen months after its introduction. Exploiting two different sources of exogenous variation, this project will provide causal estimates of the short and long run effects on consumer and producer behavior, including its unintended effects, on cross-border shopping in Germany and on consumption of cheaper rather than healthier alternatives.