Priority Cost Effective Lessons for Systems Strengthening, MRC Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, 27 St. Andrews Road, Parktown, 2193 Johannesburg, South Africa.
Priority Cost Effective Lessons for Systems Strengthening, MRC Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, 27 St. Andrews Road, Parktown, 2193 Johannesburg, South Africa.
Prev Med. 2017 Dec;105S(Suppl):S26-S31. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.05.026. Epub 2017 Jun 1.
South Africa faces a severe and growing obesity epidemic. Obesity and its co-morbidities raise public and private expenditures on healthcare. Sugary beverages are heavily consumed in South Africa and are linked to the onset of overweight and obesity. Excise taxation of sugary beverages has been proposed and adopted in other settings as a means to reduce harms from their consumption. A tax on the sugar content of non-alcoholic beverages has been proposed for implementation in South Africa, however, the public health effects and revenue raising potential of this measure hinges on estimates of the targeted beverages own- and cross-price elasticities. This study applies demand system methods by combining expenditure survey data and sub-national price data to provide the first estimates of price and expenditure elasticities for categories of soft drinks that would be subject to South Africa's proposed sugary beverage tax. The results suggest that demand for these products is sufficiently price-elastic such that a significant reduction in consumption may result from a tax.
南非面临着严重且日益严重的肥胖症流行。肥胖症及其合并症增加了公共和私人医疗保健支出。在南非，含糖饮料的消耗量很大，与超重和肥胖的发生有关。在其他地方，已经提出并采用了对含糖饮料征收消费税的办法，以减少其消费带来的危害。有人提议在南非对非酒精饮料的含糖量征税，但该措施对公共卫生的影响和增收潜力取决于对目标饮料自身和交叉价格弹性的估计。本研究通过结合支出调查数据和国家以下各级价格数据应用需求系统方法，首次对将受南非拟议征收的含糖饮料税影响的软饮料类别提供价格和支出弹性估计。结果表明，这些产品的需求具有足够的价格弹性，因此税收可能会导致消费的大幅减少。
