Jonne Guyt receives a Vidi grant for his research on the societal impact of health taxes on junk food
Jonne Guyt of Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam has been awarded a Vidi research grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). His project focuses on how taxes on ultra-processed foods—those high in sugars, salt, and saturated fats—can influence both consumer behaviour and the strategies of food producers and retailers. By studying the effects of the world’s first health tax, Guyt aims to reveal how these policies can tackle wider issues, such as carbon emissions and air pollution, contributing to healthier communities and more sustainable economic practices.
Abstract
Ultra-processed foods, high in sugars, salt, and saturated fats, are not good for us. What happens if we add a tax? Using novel methods and a unique setting, I explore what happened when the first health tax was introduced. I investigate how consumers react and how supermarkets and food producers respond by changing prices, products, and packaging. Last, I explore how these taxes are linked to other ‘wicked problems’, such as carbon emissions and air pollution.
About the Vidi Grant
NWO has awarded 102 experienced researchers a Vidi grant worth 850,000 euros. The grant enables them to develop their own innovative line of research and set up their own research group.
More awarded projects
Four researcher affiliated to Tinbergen Institute have received a Vidi grant during the 2023 round: Research Fellow Jan Hausfeld (University of Amsterdam) on how attention affects discrimination, especially in group decisions, Research Fellow Arturas Juodis (University of Amsterdam) on making complex economic models easier to understand and accessible and Research Fellow Niels Rietveld (Erasmus University Rotterdam) for research drawing on a unique combination of data, that advances the gene-environment interplay and intergenerational mobility literature on both theoretical and empirical frontiers. Jonne Guyt, faculty member of the Research Master Business Data Science at Tinbergen Institute, also receives funding for his research on the societal impact of health taxes on junk food. See all laureates of the 2023 Vidi round.