Nudging parental health behavior with and without children's pestering power: fat tax, subsidy or both?

We study the effect of several food fiscal policies as a way of nudging consumers towards a healthier way of eating. Our experimental design varies prices of healthier and unhealthier alternatives of food products for children. We also examine the interplay of children’s pestering power. Results from our lab experiment suggest that (a) implementing a fat tax and a subsidy simultaneously can nudge parents to choose healthier products, (b) providing information regarding the fiscal policies in place can further increase the impact of the intervention, and (c) kid’s pestering power is one of the causes of the policies’ moderate effectiveness.