Citation

Bray JW, Loomis BR, Engelen M. Health Econ. 2009; 18(5): 607-618.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/hec.1403

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper uses supermarket scanner data to estimate brand- and packaging-specific own- and cross-price elasticities for beer. We find that brand- and packaging-specific beer sales are highly price elastic. Cross-price elasticity estimates suggest that individuals are more likely to buy a higher-volume package of the same brand of beer than they are to switch brands. Policy simulations suggest that regulation of volume-based price discounts is potentially more effective than a tax increase at reducing beer consumption. Our results suggest that volume-based price discounting induces people to buy larger-volume packages of beer and may lead to an increased overall beer consumption. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.