This study focuses on drivers for changing urban flood risk. We suggest a framework for guiding climate change adaptation action concerning flood risk and manageability in cities. The identified key drivers of changing flood hazard and vulnerability are used to provide an overview of each driver's impact on flood risk and manageability at the city level. We find that identified drivers for urban flood risk can be grouped in three different priority areas with different time horizon. The first group has high impact but is manageable at city level. Typical drivers in this group are related to the physical environment such as decreasing permeability and unresponsive engineering. The second group of drivers is represented by public awareness and individual willingness to participate and urbanization and urban sprawl. These drivers may be important and are manageable for the cities and they involve both short-term and long-term measures. The third group of drivers is related to policy and long-term changes. This group is represented by economic growth and increasing values at risk, climate change, and increasing complexity of society. They have all high impact but low manageability. Managing these drivers needs to be done in a longer time perspective, e.g., by developing long-term policies and exchange of ideas.
Starting from a day-to-day model on hotel specific guest nights we obtain an integer-valued moving average model by cross-sectional and temporal aggregation. The two parameters of the aggregate model reflect mean check-in and the check-out probability. Letting the parameters be functions of dummy and economic variables we demonstrate the potential of the approach in terms of interesting interpretations. Empirical results are presented for a series of Norwegian guests in Swedish hotels. The results indicate strong seasonal patterns in both mean check-in and in the check-out probability. Models based on differenced series are preferred in terms of goodness-of-fit. In a forecast comparison the improvements due to economic variables are small. (C) 2002 International Institute of Forecasters. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.
Many service industry firms strive hard to fill free capacity in order to cover their costs for a fixed capital stock. This paper presents a time series model where the capacity constraint is an integral part. The integer-valued autoregressive model builds on a simple idea of how daily time series arise for hotels and other similar establishments. Measures that follow naturally from the time series model are the occupancy probability and the duration of stay for the visitor. Empirically, we study the effects of price changes and a large festival, on these measures.
The main objective of this paper is to analyse consumer response and welfare effects due to changes in energy or environmental policy. To achieve this objective we formulate and estimate an econometric model for non-durable consumer demand in Sweden that utilises micro- and macro-data. In the simulations, we consider two revenue neutral scenarios that both imply a doubling of the CO2 tax; one that returns the revenues in the form of a lower VAT and one that subsidise public transport. One conclusion from the simulations is that the CO2 tax has regional distribution effects, in the sense that household living in sparsely populated areas carry a larger share of the tax burden. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
In this paper, we study how foreign ownership of Swedish companies affects employment and wages. To study these effects, we specify a model based on the assumption that the Swedish labour market can be described as one where trade unions and employers bargain over employment and wages. Our hypothesis is that bargaining power is affected by institutional settings and the ownership of the firm. To test our hypothesis, we used a panel data set of 242 large Swedish manufacturing firms over the period 1980-2005. The results indicate no significant impact of foreign ownership on employment or wages in Sweden. Jel codes: J30, J50, D21, C33.
The main objective of this paper is to examine how exogenous technological progress, in terms of an increase in energy efficiency, affects consumption choice by Swedish households and thereby emissions of IMF carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NO chi). The aim of the paper is closely related to the discussion of what is termed the "rebound effect''. To neutralise the rebound effect, we estimate the necessary change in CO2 tax, i.e. the CO2 tax that keeps CO2 emissions at their initial level. In addition, we estimate how this will affect emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The results indicate that an increase in energy efficiency of 20% will increase emissions Of CO2 by approximately 5%. To reduce the CO2 emissions to their initial level, the CO2 tax must be raised by 130%. This tax increase will reduce the emissions of sulphur dioxide to below their initial level, but will leave the emissions of nitrogen oxides at a higher level than initially. Thus, if marginal damages from sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are non-constant, additional policy instruments are needed. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.
There is increasing interest in arranging festivals or special events in many cities. This paper presents an econometric model to account for the tourism accommodation impact of such events. The autoregressive count data model incorporates some of the more important factors in the planning and evaluation of an event, such as spare capacity, displacement effects and the costs that visitors face. The results for two large Swedish festivals indicate that there are some displacement effects but that the net tourism effect is positive, since the average visitor stays longer during festival periods. In the final year of the sample the festival increased the accommodation receipts for the hotels in Stockholm and Gothenburg by 2% and 6%, respectively.
This article summarizes the empirical literature on habit formation in food consumption in order to analyze the hypothesis that food consumption is habit forming. It reviews the main econometric models used to study habits in food consumption and describes the most commonly used demand models and departs from the static version of the models. It describes how these models can be extended to dynamic versions incorporating habit formation. The focus is on the functional form of the models rather than estimation. The empirical studies reviewed in this article generally find habit formation in food consumption, implying that dynamics is an important factor in food demand analysis. Finally, it summarizes the results and discusses fruitful areas for future research. © Oxford University Press 2011. All rights reserved.
This cross-country study investigates the potential to improve pig welfare by exploiting consumer demand, domestically and in export markets, for welfare pork produced in indoor production systems. The analysis is based on questionnaire data collected in 2019 focusing on demand for Danish welfare pork both in Denmark and in two nearby export markets, Sweden and Germany. To reduce hypothetical bias, a willingness-to-pay indicator is combined with an indicator of positive interest in buying a fictive Danish welfare labelled pork. We find that the market potential is relatively weak. Our findings indicate that there is some, albeit limited, potential in Denmark and Germany while demand is practically non-existing in Sweden, probably because the pig welfare guaranteed by Swedish legislation is similar to what is provided by the fictive welfare label employed in the study. Hence, consumer demand alone cannot secure enhanced pig welfare. Moreover, we found national differences in the characteristics of consumers who are interested in Danish welfare pork. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd
It has repeatedly been shown that consumers consider the higher price of organic produce to be a barrier to buying organic food products. The present paper therefore asks whether organic consumption affects consumers’ actual total food expenditures. Food purchase data for a panel of Danish households during 2006–2014 were used to compare the total food expenditures of different organic household segments. A fixed effects model and a cross-section model both indicated that although food expenditures rose slightly with organic consumption, the increase was considerably less than had been suggested by organic price premiums at product level. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
OBJECTIVE: The objective is to analyze Danish consumers' attitudes to buying food with reduced salt content.
DESIGN: The study is based on a comprehensive store intervention that included 114 stores belonging to the same supermarket chain. Three different salt claims were tested for eight weeks on six test products within the categories bread, cornflakes and frozen pizzas. Scanner data were supplemented with 134 brief interviews with consumers in nine selected stores.
SETTING: Stores spread across Denmark.
PARTICIPANTS: Consumers who buy food in the stores.
RESULTS: Statistical regression analyses of the scanner data indicated that none of the three claims significantly affected demand for any of the test products. The interviews confirmed that many consumers were more focused on other elements of the official dietary advice than reduced salt consumption, such as eating plenty of vegetables, choosing products with whole grains and reducing their intake of sugar and fat.
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, both the scanner data and the interviews pointed in the same direction, toward the conclusion that salt content is often a secondary factor when Danish consumers make dietary choices.
Previous studies have shown that belief in the healthiness of organic food is a strong motive for buying organic. Typically, a positive relation between a nutritionally balanced diet (with respect to fruit, vegetables and meat) and organic consumption is also found. As market shares of organic food are much smaller than those of conventional food, consumers may face a trade-off between buying organic and choosing the nutritional composition they prefer. Using data from a survey of around 1300 Danish consumers, we found that almost all respondents believed that organic food contains fewer unwanted substances than non-organic food, and that around a third considered organic food to be nutritionally superior. Respondents with high organic consumption and who believe in the nutritious superiority of organic food products were more likely to belong to a small group of respondents who prioritized buying organic. However, the vast majority, particularly those with low levels of organic consumption, prioritized dietary flexibility over organic produce. Our findings suggest that to motivate those in this large consumer segment to increase their organic consumption, it will be necessary to offer a broader, more nutritionally differentiated, range of organic products. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.
Several studies have shown that consumers with a high organic consumption often have dietary habits that include more fruit and vegetables but less red meat. This paper takes a novel approach by investigating whether changes in consumption of organics and improvements in dietary habits also are related. The results show that many consumers seem to improve their diet while increasing the organic consumption. Further, the study suggests that some households already have a relatively healthy diet in terms of fruit, vegetables, and meat consumption, when they start buying organic food. When organic consumption reaches a certain level, further increases in organic consumption are more likely to take place at the same time as dietary habits are improved. References to health and climate considerations seem to be the most important motivations for reducing meat consumption, while higher availability of organics is the most important reason for increasing organic consumption.
How do we design policies that support a shift in eating habits towards a diet that includes more vegetable-basedproducts and less meat, and in particular red meat? To inform policy, more information is needed about consumers’perceptions of the plant-based protein alternatives that have become available on the market. Thepresent study of 1000 Danish consumers examined oat drink and plant-based mince as substitutes for cows’ milkand minced beef. While the popularity of these is increasing, in 2021 70% of Danish consumers had nonethelessnever tried using oat drink or plant-based mince. Respondents who stated that they often bought organic foodwere more likely to associate the plant-based products with benefits as well as being more likely to have triedusing the plant-based products. While plant-based products were associated mainly with public good characteristics,it was private good characteristics that explained consumption of the products. Therefore, improvingtaste – or changing people’s expectations about it – and reducing price are ways to reduce barriers to consumption.Initiatives to improve public understanding of the ways in which plant-based and animal-basedproducts differ are also important, as many respondents were somewhat unclear about which characteristicsthey associated with the two products.
Compared to other policy instruments that aim to change consumer behavior, information provision is perhaps the least controversial. An important question is how information in the form of carbon labels can contribute to direct food consumption toward reduced climate impact. From a policy guidance perspective, there is a need to identify how the labeling strategy affects consumers' ability to identify lower emitting food products and the behavioral change due to carbon information. Key aspects of a carbon label are discussed, as well as the implications of different labeling schemes. Drawing on economic and behavioral theories, we propose that, to assist consumers in identifying changes in consumption that contribute to significant reductions in their climate impact, a carbon label must enable comparisons between product groups and not only within narrowly defined product groups. This suggests mandatory labeling, since producers of high-emission products are less likely to display such labels. However, it is important to consider both costs and benefits of labeling schemes and to consider complementing labeling with other policy instruments. © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association.
The effect of imposing different numbers of unit roots on forecasting accuracy is examined using univariate ARMA models. To see whether additional information improves forecasting accuracy and increases the informative forecast horizon, the authors cross-relate the time series for inbound tourism in Sweden for different visitor categories and estimate vector ARMA models. The mean-squared forecast error for different filters indicates that models in which unit roots are imposed at all frequencies have the smallest forecast errors. The results from the vector ARMA models with all roots imposed indicate that the informative forecast horizon is greater than for the univariate models. Out-of-sample evaluations indicate, however, that the univariate modelling approach may be preferable.
Eutrophication is a serious problem in many parts of the world, and aquaculture production can contribute to the problem as well as be part of its solution. Nutrient polices in developed countries are often command-and-control policies that may have contributed to the slow growth of the sector. We perform a literature review to investigate how current nutrient polices affect the sector and if economic incentive policies have greater potential to support sector growth. Although the literature is limited in many aspects, the results indicate that this may be the case. Given that the ability to measure, monitor and control has improved over time, possi-bilities for using economic incentive policies have increased. For example, subsidies that are results-based, i.e., based on the amount of emissions that are reduced, could be used. It is also possible for aquaculture production to benefit from being included in emissions trading systems, where these are available.
Seaweed cultivation is a large industry worldwide, but production in Europe is small compared to production in Asian countries. In the EU, the motivations for seaweed farming may be seen from two perspectives; one being economic growth through biomass production and the other being the provisioning of ecosystem services such as mitigating eutrophication. In this paper, we assess the economic potential of large-scale cultivation of kelp, Saccharina latissima, along the Swedish west coast, including the value of externalities. The findings suggest that seaweed farming has the potential of becoming a profitable industry in Sweden. Furthermore, large-scale seaweed farming can sequester a significant share of annual anthropogenic nitrogen and phosphorus inflows to the basins of the Swedish west coast (8% of N and 60% of P). Concerning the valuation of externalities, positive values generated from sequestration of nitrogen and phosphorus are potentially counteracted by negative values from interference with recreational values. Despite the large N and P uptake, the socioeconomic value of this sequestration is only a minor share of the potential financial value from biomass production. This suggests that e.g. payment schemes for nutrient uptake based on the socioeconomic values generated is not likely to be a tipping point for the industry. Additionally, seaweed cultivation is not a cost-efficient measure in itself to remove nutrients. Policy should thus be oriented towards industry development, as the market potential of the biomass will be the driver that may unlock these bioremediation opportunities.
In this paper a count data regression model accounting for endogenous censoring with household specific censoring thresholds is presented. The presented modelling approach is utilized in an analysis of household choice of total number of nights to spend on monthly recreational trips. The empirical study reveals that the suggested approach is feasible and that accounting for endogenous censoring gives a better fit to the data.
In this paper we present a non-linear demand system for households' joint choice of number of trips and days to spend at a destination. The approach, which facilitates welfare analysis of exogenous policy and price changes, is used empirically to study the effects of an increased CO2 tax. In particular, we focus on the effect of including substitution between households choice of the number of trips and days to spend at a destination in the welfare analysis. The analysis reveals that the equivalent variation (EV) measure, for the count data demand system, can be seen as an upper bound for the households welfare loss. Approximating the welfare loss by the change in consumer surplus, accounting for the positive effect from longer stays, imposes a lower bound on the households welfare loss. The difference in the estimated loss measures, from the considered CO2 tax reform, is about 20%. This emphasizes the importance of accounting for substitutions toward longer stays in travel demand policy evaluations. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Simple Summary In western Europe, national animal welfare legislation since the 1980s in combination with EU legislation has served to ensure minimal requirements for the welfare of farm animals. For many consumers, however, these requirements do not go far enough. Market-driven initiatives where farmers, processors of animal products, and retailers raise the standards via labelling schemes and price premiums may further improve the welfare of farm animals, but such initiatives are only viable solutions if there is sufficient consumer support. To find out to what extent such support exists, we studied the relationship between animal ethics orientations and consumer demand for welfare-enhanced pork in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. In all three countries, we identified a consumer segment that endorses the ideal behind schemes to enhance farm animal welfare, i.e., that it is ethically justified to eat meat provided the animals enjoy a good level of welfare. Consumers in this segment are highly concerned about animal welfare, and also purchase welfare pork more often than other consumers. More than one fourth of consumers in all three countries belong to this segment; therefore, we believe that market actors can be reassured that there will be persistent consumer demand for welfare-enhanced meat. Background: The relationship between animal ethics orientations and consumer demand for meat with high standards of animal welfare, and the way this relationship plays out in different countries, is not well understood. Using pork as a case study, this comparative study aims to identify the animal ethics orientations that drive purchases of welfare meat in Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. Methods: Cross-sectional questionnaire data from representative samples of approximately 1600 consumers in each country were collected. A segmentation of pork consumers (using latent profile analysis) was carried out. Results: In all three countries, two subgroups were concerned about farm animal welfare: the first subgroup was driven by animal rights values; the second subgroup by animal protection values, where the main principle was that "it is all right to use animals as long as they are treated well". Other consumer groups are less concerned about farm animal welfare and display little or no preference for welfare pork. Conclusions: In all three countries, dual demand for welfare pork exists. The findings of this study can be used, among others, to understand the marketability of enhanced welfare animal products and the potential for market-driven animal welfare improvements.
Waste management policies aim to divert waste from lower positions on the waste hierarchy such as landfill and incineration to higher positions in the hierarchy such as energy recovery and recycling. However, empirical evaluations of such policies are scarce. This study highlighted the effect of waste management policies on the amount of waste treated with landfill, incineration, energy recovery and recycling by analysing a panel dataset consisting of 14 European countries and the period 1996 to 2018. Findings from a seemingly unrelated regression model suggest that the landfill ban is associated with a decrease in landfill waste, but an increase in incineration, energy recovery and recycling waste. The landfill tax is also correlated with an increase in energy recovery waste but, in contrast, it is associated with a reduction in incineration and recycling waste. Meanwhile, the deposit refund scheme is associated with a decrease in the amount of landfill waste. Concerning the effects on total waste generated, regression results from a fixed effects model indicate that the landfill tax and the deposit refund scheme are both correlated with a reduction in the amount of waste generated. These findings contribute to the scarce academic literature evaluating waste management policies and may better inform policy makers on their longer-term implications.
There was an error in the original publication [1]. “Building awareness about BGS seems to increase the willingness to pay, whereas recreational use seems to decrease it.” A correction has been made to Abstract, lines 10–11 of the paragraph: In addition, recreational use and building awareness about BGS flood mitigation seem to increase the willingness to pay, whereas living longer in the area seems to decrease it. There was an error in the original publication [1]. “Furthermore, learning about BGS seems to increase the willingness to pay for it, whereas caring to use it seems to decrease the willingness to pay for it.” A correction (the same as in the Abstract) has been made to Conclusions, lines 8–9 of the paragraph 3: Furthermore, recreational use and building awareness about BGS flood mitigation seem to increase the willingness to pay, whereas living longer in the area seems to decrease it. The authors state that the scientific conclusions are unaffected. This correction was approved by the Academic Editor. The original publication has also been updated. © 2023 by the authors.
In this article, we explore the production of socio-cultural values around blue-green solutions (BGS) through the perspective of care. We explore how values and preferences are formed through the complexity of everyday life engagements in a BGS environment. The data come from a questionnaire answered by 328 households in the neighborhood of Augustenborg in Malmö, Sweden. The questionnaire collects detailed information about inhabitants’ possible recreational use (through Likert scale questions) and willingness to pay (WTP) (estimated through contingent valuation). The study evaluates if and how people care to use, care to live with, and care to pay for BGS. The result shows that people in Augustenborg relate in different and sometimes contradictory ways to BGS. A well-used BGS environment does not per se make the environment successful or result in people preferring a BGS environment in the future. Building awareness about BGS seems to increase the willingness to pay, whereas recreational use seems to decrease it. The study reveals a landscape of care that is constantly being formed and transformed. This suggests that both planning and research needs to focus more on the relation between BGS and social use over time.
The motivation for the present study is to understand food choice in relation to animal food production and to study how preferences are influenced by information. To do this, we carried out a choice experiment. In the analysis, we focus on chickens reared indoors and outdoors and chicken labelled campylobacter-free versus non-labelled chicken. The results suggest that there is a positive willingness to pay (WTP) both for chicken reared outdoors and for campylobacter-free labelled chicken. Information about rearing methods resulted in a higher WTP for chicken reared outdoors, while information about campylobacter had both positive and negative effects on respondents' WTP. The highest increase in WTP for campylobacter-free labelled chicken was found for one of the high risk groups, individuals with poor kitchen hygiene. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
In this paper we consider a model for international tourism demand. The point of departure of the analysis is a utility function that is both dynamic and stochastic. In the model the stochastic component is interpreted as random changes in preferences for goods and services, while the dynamic component can be seen as either habit formation or as interdependent preferences. The resulting demand functions are estimated as a multivariate state space model, where the stochastic components enter the model as stochastic seasonal and trend components. An application is constructed for different segments of the Swedish tourism market. The results indicate the importance of including both dynamic and stochastic components in the utility function, and the importance of using disaggregate data to enable investigation of each market segment.
In this study, we consider a dynamic demand model for international tourism. The model is used to estimate separate demand functions for hotel and cottage visitors from different countries, with a multivariate structural time series model. Among other things, the estimated models are used to simulate the effects on international tourism demand in Sweden of an increase in the value added tax on typical tourism products. The results reveal that the price sensitivity differs considerably between various visitor groups. The largest effect is found for Norwegian visitors, while there is no significant effect for Danish ones. The forecast accuracy of the demand model is also evaluated. The results indicate that a pure structural time series model performs as well as a model with explanatory variables. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
This paper calculates the consumption expenditure of internal visitors in Sweden, and Swedes' expenditures on outboard tourism, according to the WTO definition of tourism expenditure. The demand-based calculations of national tourism are distributed among same-day visitors and overnight visitors, for leisure and business purposes. The supply side calculations cover the main tourism industries. Daily expenditures of domestic tourists categorized by housing type and purpose are also presented. The calculations show that the consumption expenditures of internal visitors in Sweden were approximately 65 300 M SEK in 1992, which compared to the GDP is about 4.5%. The expenditure of Swedish households on leisure trips in 1992 amounted to 66 544 M SEK, which is 8.6% of adjusted total private consumption. In 1993 this figure declined to 7.8%. The largest reduction was on expenditure on outboard trips.
The primary objective of this study was to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for a new intervention at the workplace: wholesome canteen takeaways (CTA), i.e. a low fat meal with a large amount of vegetables prepared at the workplace canteen that only requires re-heating. The contingent valuation method was used to elicit the WTP. Two surveys were carried out in Denmark; one large-scale Internet based survey and one survey at a workplace that introduced CTA. The results from the large-scale survey suggest that this concept attracts relevant target groups; groups of individuals with a less healthy diet, low physical activity and a high body mass index. For males and individuals with low education, who also constitute relevant target groups, the results suggest no significant difference in WTP between males and females, whereas low educated individuals have a significantly lower WTP than highly educated individuals. However, the workplace study, carried out at a hospital, found that females have a significantly higher WTP for CTA compared with males. In conclusion, the concept appears to attract relevant target groups, although for a given price a smaller fraction of low educated individuals compared to high educated individuals would be willing to buy CTA. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
In this study we ask how a range of environmental sustainability adjustments that consumers find it easy to adoptaffect the carbon footprint of their food consumption. The study is based on information about real purchases offood products and responses to a questionnaire about the various sustainability adjustments that the studyparticipants apply and their concern about climate change. Based on principal component and regressionanalysis the results from the study indicate that sustainability adjustments such as organic consumption, buyingdomestically produced food and eating seasonal produce, as well as concern about climate change, are associatedwith a reduced carbon footprint from food consumption. The largest reductions were found for organic consumers.The results suggested that most committed organic consumers have a carbon footprint that is about onethird smaller than that of consumers who seldom buy organic food products. The results also indicate that thesevoluntary sustainability adjustments are not sufficient to secure conformity with today’s goals for reducedgreenhouse gas emissions.
The increased urbanization and human population growth of the recent decades have resulted in the loss of urban green spaces. One policy used to prevent the loss of urban green space is ecological compensation. Ecological compensation is the final step in the mitigation hierarchy; compensation measures should thus be a last resort after all opportunities to implement the earlier steps of the hierarchy have been exhausted. Ecological compensation should balance the ecological damage, aiming for a “no net loss” of biodiversity and ecosystem services. In this study, we develop a simple model that can be used as tool to study the welfare effects of applying ecological compensation when green space is at risk of being exploited, both at an aggregate level for society and for different groups of individuals. Our focus is on urban green space and the value of the ecosystem service—recreation—that urban green space provides. In a case study, we show how the model can be used in the planning process to evaluate the welfare effects of compensation measures at various sites within the city. The results from the case study indicate that factors such as population density and proximity to green space have a large impact on aggregate welfare from green space and on net welfare when different compensation sites are compared against each other.
Information om vilket land maten kommer ifrån finns i allt större utsträckning i livsmedelsbutiken men för restauranger finns det inget krav att informera gästerna om matens ursprung. Vår analys visar att restaurangbesökares efterfrågan av ursprungs-information är begränsad och främst gäller kött. Vår slutsats är att det bör vara frivilligt, snarare än tvingande, för restauranger att tillhandahålla ursprungsinformation. Ett problem som framkommer är att konsumenternas förståelse av den befintliga obligatoriska ursprungsmärkningen av livsmedel är låg. En anledning kan vara att lagstiftningen är komplex och att ursprungskriterierna omfattar flera led av produktionskedjan.
It is well understood that adding to the population increases CO2 emissions. At the same time, having children is a transformative experience, such that it might profoundly change adult (i.e., parents') preferences and consumption. How it might change is, however, unknown. Depending on if becoming a parent makes a person "greener" or "browner," parents may either balance or exacerbate the added CO2 emissions from their children. Parents might think more about the future, compared to childless adults, including risks posed to their children from environmental events like climate change. But parenthood also adds needs and more intensive competition on your scarce time. Carbon-intensive goods can add convenience and help save time, e.g., driving may facilitate being in more places in one day, compared to public transportation or biking. Pre-prepared food that contain red meat may save time and satisfy more household preferences, relative to vegetarian food. We provide the first rigorous test of whether parents are greener or browner than other adults. We create a unique dataset by combining detailed micro data on household expenditures of all expenditure groups particularly important for CO2 emissions (transportation, food, and heating/electricity) with CO2 emissions, and compare emissions from Swedish adults with and without children. We find that parents emit more CO2 than childless adults. Only a small fraction of adults permanently choose not to have children, which means any meaningful self-selection into parenthood based on green preferences is unlikely. Our findings suggest that having children might increase CO2 emissions both by adding to the population and by increasing CO2 emissions from those choosing to have children.
This paper analyses distributional effects of revenue-neutral tax reforms aimed at improving dietary quality and encouraging healthier grain consumption. Using data on household grain purchases, we analyse both the impact on dietary quality and the tax incidence among income groups of VAT reforms and excise duty reforms. The VAT reforms include subsidies of healthy products (products labelled with the Swedish National Food Administration's healthy symbol) funded by increased VAT on 'less healthy' products. The excise duty reforms contain a subsidy of fibre content, funded by excise duties on either added sugar or saturated fat. Our results suggest that the VAT reforms have a similar impact on dietary quality across all income groups, with increases in fibre intake, but also unwanted increases in the intake of nutrients frequently overconsumed: fat, salt and sugar. The impact on dietary quality of the VAT reforms is therefore difficult to evaluate. With the exception of the lowest income group, the excise duty reforms seem to have a positive health effect across all other income groups, with increases in the intake of fibre and reductions in the intake of saturated fat, sugar and added sugar. For the lowest income group we find the highest increase in the intake of fibre, but generally an increase in the intake of the other nutrients, too. The excise duty reforms also result in a more energy-dense grain diet, with increases in the intake of calories for all income groups. Both the VAT reforms and the excise duty reforms appear to be progressive. The lowest income group pays less food taxes and generally faces a lower overall post-reform price level. The income group that increases its tax payments most is the one with the highest income. This is also the income group that faces the largest increase in the overall post-reform price level. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
This paper simulates the impact across household types of fully funded tax reforms designed to increase consumers' fiber intake from grain consumption. Our results suggest that household types with the highest initial consumption share of fiber-rich products-i.e., households without children (seniors, couples without children, and single women without children)-experience the highest increase in fiber intake from these reforms. However, they also experience high increases in unhealthy nutrients from the reforms, making the net health effects difficult to evaluate. Seniors and couples without children also gain most financially, paying less food taxes and facing, depending on the reform, either a lower price level than before the reform or a lower increase in the price level than the average household. These household types also face the lowest initial price level. Households with the lowest initial consumption share of fiber-rich products-families with children-appear to gain the least financially from the reforms: they pay more food taxes and face relatively high increases in price levels. Further, in general they experience an increase in fiber intake smaller than that of the average household. However, they do generally see reductions in the intake of added sugar, and in many cases saturated fat, which positively affects the health of families with children, who often overconsume these nutrients.
Food high in energy but low in nutritional value is an important contributor to several serious illnesses, and one type of food that is particularly high in energy but low in nutrition is food consumed away from home. In this paper, we examine the demand and willingness to pay for healthy, Keyhole-labelled meals. A Keyhole-labelled meal is particularly low in energy, fat, sugar and salt, but particularly high in fibre. The results suggest that to get the majority of individuals to choose the healthy option regularly it would be necessary to alter the relative price between healthy and less healthy meals. Generally groups of individuals with a poor nutritional intake require a larger compensation (subsidy) before they choose the healthy alternative. About one third of respondents would choose the healthy option regularly if the prices for a healthy and less healthy meal were the same. In particular groups of individuals who already have a relatively good nutritional intake would select the healthy option. Groups with a generally poor nutritional intake (men and individuals with lower education and lower income) would gain health benefits from a subsidy of Keyhole-labelled meals. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
In this paper, we simulate the effects Of tax reforms aimed at encouraging healthier grain consumption. We use a rich data set on household grain consumption in 2003 from the market research institute GfK Sweden, combined with information oil the nutritional content of the consumption. We estimate behavioral parameters, which are used to simulate the impact on the average household of tax reforms entailing either a Subsidy oil commodities particularly rich in Fiber or a subsidy of the fiber density in grain products. Our results suggest that to direct the fiber intake towards nutritional recommendations, reforms with a substantial impact on consumer prices are required. Regardless of the type of subsidy implemented, the increase in the intake of Fiber is accompanied by unwanted increases in nutrients that are often overconsumed: far, salt and sugar Funding the subsidies by taxing these nutrients, or less healthy commodities, helps to counteract such developments. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Proposal and OriginalityFood consumption in tourism is a key contributor to the tourism industry’s carbon footprint. Yet, empirically tested interventions aimed at nudging tourists towards more sustainable food choices are lacking.
By conducting a field experiment in a restaurant at a major Swedish winter destination, we study how food service providers in tourism can boost the sustainable food choices of consumers via carbon labels. Our findings contribute to knowledge on the drivers of sustainable tourist behaviour. This has practical implications for providers aiming to trigger sustainable behaviour.
Methodology We ran two workshops with restaurant staff to design an intervention (CO2e labels) aimed at triggering sustainable food choices of consumers. A field experiment tested the intervention over 6 weeks using an A-B-A experimental design. In the analysis, 9 menu items and 1449 data cases were used.
Results and ImplicationsTheoretical implications concern the advancement of knowledge on the behavioural factors that drive sustainable food choices of tourists and the challenges and opportunities tourism providers face in facilitating more sustainable food choices. Practical implications concern new knowledge on the design of effective interventions and how these can reduce providers’ carbon footprint with sustained or increased profitability. Methodologically, we contribute with new understandings of field experiments designed in collaboration with restaurant managers and staff.
Research Limitations The study was conducted in only one restaurant. Other factors that might influence consumers’ food choices (price, taste, personal disposition etc) were not measured.