Do Low Prices for Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Increase Children's Weight?

This paper tests whether prices of soda, fruit drinks, and other selected foods influence children’s BMI measures. Child and household data are drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K), which is merged with market prices available from the Quarterly Food at Home Price Database (QFAHPD) by county of residence. The results show that lagged prices for foods and drinks have more significant effects on children’s BMI compared to contemporaneous prices. This indicates that policies that affect food prices such as taxing or subsidizing would take time to have an effect on children’s weight