Whereas National Health authorities recommend a decrease in the consumption of 'added' sugar, a reform on the sugar market will lead to a 36% decrease of the sugar price in the EU. Using French data on soft drinks purchases, this paper investigates the anticipated impact of this reform on the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. The reform of the EU sugar policy leads to a decrease in regu...

The impact of a reform that increased consumer information on brand name and generic pharmaceutical prices is analyzed both theoretically and empirically. The theoretical results show that an increase in information likely reduces the price of brand name pharmaceuticals, while the results regarding generics are less clear. In the empirical part of the paper, the introduction of the substitution...

To help finance its historic expansions of insurance coverage, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes several provisions aimed at slowing the rate of growth of personal health expenditures. This goal is addressed partly by reductions in payments to health care providers and partly by future reductions in the tax subsidies for extremely generous insurance plans—often refer...

In 2006, Massachusetts passed a reform that required individuals to purchase health insurance and provided subsidized health insurance to low-income individuals. The US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was modeled after this reform, making Massachusetts an ideal place to look at potential outcomes from the ACA. Postreform, the proportion of the health-insured population in Massa...