Consumer reactions to price interventions on takeaway beverage cups

Eskander, Shaikh (2024) Consumer reactions to price interventions on takeaway beverage cups. [Data Collection]

Lay Summary

The environmental harm of disposable cup consumption has long been discussed and is of special interest since the demand for takeaway beverages has been growing over the past decade. Business-introduced discounts on beverages bought in reusable cups are one popular financial intervention to reduce disposable cup consumption. In addition, political discus-sions on the implementation of a Pigouvian tax on disposable cups have arisen in Germany and the United Kingdom. Despite interest in consumer reactions to potential disposable cup taxes, a comprehensive study on consumer perceptions regarding financial interventions on takeaway beverage cups is not yet available. This thesis investigates and compares consumer reactions to business-introduced discounts and Pigouvian taxes on takeaway beverage cups. Furthermore, key determinants influencing the effectiveness and public acceptability of the tested instruments are examined. A combined online experiment and survey with 1,624 stu-dents from Germany and the United Kingdom was conducted for those purposes. Results indicate that while both the instruments are effective, business-introduced discounts are more effective than governmental taxes in reducing the share of beverages sold in disposable cups. In addition, combining discount and tax measures significantly decreases disposable cup consumption compared to single-measure application. Finally, the present study is the first to evidence a significant impact of financial takeaway beverage cup interventions on the total market demand.

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