Toward Optimal Meat Pricing: Is It Time to Tax Meat Consumption?

Summary

This review synthesises economic evidence on the environmental and health externalities of meat production and consumption, arguing that second-best consumption taxes on meat can address multiple externalities simultaneously in high-income countries. The authors present preliminary estimates of meat's underpricing relative to its true social costs and examine the case for taxation from perspectives of public, behavioural and welfare economics. The paper identifies key directions for future research on optimal meat taxation policy.

UK applicability

The findings are directly relevant to UK policy development, particularly given ongoing discussions around sustainable food systems and public health nutrition. UK policymakers could use the estimated social costs framework and taxation rationales to inform potential regulatory instruments, though the geographic and agricultural context differences would require country-specific empirical validation.

Key measures

Social costs of meat production (climate change, nitrogen cycle impacts, biodiversity loss); health impacts of meat consumption; distributional effects of meat taxation; alternative protein technologies

Outcomes reported

The study reviewed empirical evidence on the social costs of meat production and consumption, and presented preliminary estimates suggesting meat is significantly underpriced when environmental and health externalities are accounted for. It examined the rationales and potential effects of consumption taxes on meat in high-income countries.

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