Fiscal Policies for Diet and Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases

Sooooo

The lovely folk at the WHO is posting about how to tax or subsidize their way to good health for the population.

http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/250131/1/9789241511247-eng.pdf?ua=1

I was reading about it at Velvet Glove and noticed something interesting.

Page 12 of the report

The fundamentals to the effect of fiscal policies on diet and the basics of price elasticities include: a) demand for SSBs is generally elastic, with price elasticities around -0.9 to -1.3

Framed as a reason to believe their fundamentals around taxation reducing food intake

Page 20 of the report

In most cases, however, the demand for foods and beverages is typically inelastic

Which they frame as a reason for large taxes

Wut