Optimal Sin Taxation and Market Power
研究市场势力如何影响罪恶税的效率和再分配效果，以英国含糖饮料市场为例，发现忽略市场势力会导致福利收益比最优水平低40%。
We study how market power impacts the efficiency and redistributive properties of sin taxation, with an empirical application to sugar-sweetened beverage taxation. We estimate an equilibrium model of the UK drinks market, which we embed in a tax design framework to solve for optimal sugar-sweetened beverage tax policy. Positive price-cost margins for drinks create inefficiencies that lower the optimal rate compared with a perfectly competitive setting. Since profits mainly accrue to the rich, this is partially mitigated under social preferences for equity. Overall, ignoring market power when setting tax policy leads to welfare gains 40 percent below those at the optimum.