How does a change in the excise tax on beer impact beer retail prices in South Africa?

dc.creatorRussell, Caitlan
dc.creatorVan Walbeek, Corne
dc.date2016-01-21T09:10:54Z
dc.date2016-01-21T09:10:54Z
dc.date2016-01
dc.date.accessioned2017-06-06T10:56:16Z
dc.date.available2017-06-06T10:56:16Z
dc.date.issued2017-06-06
dc.descriptionThis paper uses price data, collected by Statistics South Africa, to estimate the effect of a change in the excise tax on the retail price of beer. We find strong evidence that the excise tax on beer is overshifted to consumers. The pass-through coefficient is estimated at 4.83 (95% CI: 4.02; 5.64) for lager, and at 4.77 (95% CI: 4.04; 5.50) for all beer (which includes dark beer). This implies that for every R1/unit increase in the excise tax, the retail price increases by about R4.80/unit. Of the 23 brand-packaging combinations considered, the pass-through coefficients vary between 2.39 and 10.05 (median = 5.30). The majority of the price change in response to a tax change occurs immediately, and prices have fully adjusted two months after the excise tax increase becomes effective. Pass-through differs substantially across packaging types. The pass-through coefficient on 750ml bottles is substantially lower than that of 330 ml (or 340 ml) cans and 6 x 330 ml (or 6 x 340 ml) “six-packs”. The overshifting of the excise tax has positive implications for public health policy, since they increase the effectiveness of alcohol taxes as a tool to reduce the (excessive) consumption of beer.
dc.identifierRussell, C., van Walbeek, C. (2016). How does a change in the excise tax on beer impact beer retail prices in South Africa? A Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit Working Paper Number 162. Cape Town: SALDRU, University of Cape Town
dc.identifier978-1-928281-23-8
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/810
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper DA - 2017-06-06 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Excise tax KW - South Africa KW - Alcohol LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2017 T1 - How does a change in the excise tax on beer impact beer retail prices in South Africa? TI - How does a change in the excise tax on beer impact beer retail prices in South Africa? UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11090/810 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11090/810
dc.languageen
dc.publisher.departmentSALDRUen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.relationSaldru Working Papers;162
dc.subjectExcise tax
dc.subjectSouth Africa
dc.subjectAlcohol
dc.titleHow does a change in the excise tax on beer impact beer retail prices in South Africa?
dc.typeWorking Paper
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceWorking Paperen_ZA
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