The distributional impact of fiscal policies to promote healthier diets in low- and middle-income countries

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Unhealthy diet and obesity are major risk factors for noncommunicablediseases, leading to high treatment costs,productivity, and welfare losses, representing a threat tosocio-economic development. There is increased interest inconsumption taxes to promote healthier diets, with agrowing body of evidence supporting their effectiveness.However, their financial impact on the poorest is ofsignificant concern.While these taxes are likely to appear regressive whenconsidering only the potential increase in spending to buytaxed products, low-income consumers may experiencedisproportionate health benefits through larger reductionsin unhealthy food consumption. Although these potentialhealth gains also translate into financial benefits, this hasnot yet been quantified in the literature.I believe that it is the role of economics to ensure thatpreventive health policies improve social welfare and itsdistribution across social groups. I aim to investigate thedistributional impact of fiscal policies to promote healthierdiets in low- and middle-income countries, particularly inLatin America where obesity is pervasive. I will model theimpact of different fiscal policies on food expenditures andthe welfare benefits derived from potential dietimprovements per income group, in terms of reduction inout-of-pocket expenditures to treat diseases related tooverweight and unhealthy diet and increased lifetimelabour incomes derived from reduced premature mortality.