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

Summary

This narrative review examines the economic case for taxing meat consumption in high-income countries, synthesising evidence on the environmental and health externalities of livestock production. The authors argue that meat is significantly underpriced when environmental and health costs are internalised, and evaluate consumption taxes as a second-best policy instrument capable of addressing multiple externalities simultaneously. The review considers the interaction of climate, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, health, and distributional effects, whilst also examining emerging alternative protein technologies.

UK applicability

The findings are directly relevant to UK policy development, as the analysis focuses on high-income countries with similar economic structures and dietary patterns. The review's framework for quantifying environmental and health externalities could inform future meat taxation policy or subsidy reform in the United Kingdom.

Key measures

Environmental social costs of meat consumption; estimates of underpricing; analysis of multiple externalities including climate change, nitrogen cycling, biodiversity, human health, and animal welfare impacts

Outcomes reported

The study reviewed empirical evidence on the social costs of meat production and consumption, and presented preliminary estimates of environmental externalities. It examined the rationales for implementing consumption taxes on meat in high-income countries, considering environmental, health, animal welfare and distributional effects.

Topic tags