本文以碳酸饮料为例,从健康经济学的角度探究消费者过度消费不健康食品的经济学成因。本文发现,消费者对不健康食品的过度消费,是由于其消费行为所具有的理性成瘾特性决定的。这种特性导致了消费者对不健康食品的需求价格弹性过低。市场无法通过自身的价格机制,将此类产品的消费量保持在一个健康的水平。即此类商品的消费市场中存在着市场失灵现象。政府应该对不健康食品的消费市场进行积极地干预,以纠正市场失灵。
This paper applies the Becker-Murphy (1988) theory of rational addiction to the case of carbonated soft drinks, using a time-varying parameter model and scanner data from 46 U.S. cities. Empirical results provide strong evidence that carbonated soft drinks are rationally addictive. Taking rational addition into account, estimated demand elasticities are much lower than previous estimates.