THREE ESSAYS ON APPLIED MICROECONOMICS

Qi Zhang

doi:10.7273/000007120

This dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter evaluates whether the efficacy of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes is limited by tax avoidance behavior. I use grocery scanner data relying on a series of difference-in-difference designs to study sugar-sweetened beverage taxes in six cities. Results show that each cent per ounce of taxes causes the price of the taxed beverages to increase in a range from 0.47 to 0.98 cents/ounce, and the sales quantity to decrease in a range of 5.1% to 14.4%. However, the efficacy of the tax is undermined by two avoidance behaviors: (1) cross-border shopping avoidance, where people shop outside of the taxed area; (2) substitution avoidance, in which people switch from taxed to tax-exempt beverages that are just as high in sugar. The second chapter analyzes consumers’ preferences for nutrition and convenience attributes in ready-to-heat meals, using grocery scanner data. Households’ preferences for convenience meals stem on saving time. Households prefer convenience meals with higher contents of sugar, fat, sodium, cholesterol, and fiber, and lower in calorie content. Results show that consumption of convenience foods results in a high intake of ingredients with negative consequences on dietary quality and health. The findings showcase the importance of the advancement and adoption of alternative food processing technologies that would circumvent the production of convenient foods high in non-healthy ingredients. The third chapter evaluates the impacts of “overtime culture,” which is the societal expectation in China to work long hours. I employ an instrumental variable method to investigate the impact of overtime culture on the health of employees and their spouses. I assess the rate of self-reported overtime from workers within the same industry and city and use the work injury compensation index as an instrumental variable, controlling for working hours and work ethic. The results indicate that overtime culture impairs the health of both employees and their spouses. Female employees are more negatively affected. An increase in overtime culture leads to an increase in hours spent on housework for females. Reduced psychological health is a mechanism through which the health of employees and their spouses is impaired.

THREE ESSAYS ON APPLIED MICROECONOMICS

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