A sales tax is better at promoting healthy diets than the fat tax and the thin subsidy
研究发现对所有食品征收销售税能通过降低备餐时间成本促进健康饮食，且比针对不健康食品的脂肪税和健康食品补贴更有效降低肥胖率，后者反而增加体重。
We analyze how a sales tax levied on all food products impacts the consumption of healthy food, unhealthy food, and obesity. The sales tax can stimulate the consumption of healthy meals by lowering the time costs of food preparation. Moreover, the sales tax lowers obesity under more general conditions than a tax on unhealthy food (fat tax) and a subsidy on healthy food (thin subsidy). We calibrate the model using recent consumption and time use data from the US. The thin subsidy is counterproductive and increases weight. While both the sales tax and the fat tax mitigate obesity, the former imposes a lower excess burden on consumers.