Public Opinion on Tobacco, Alcohol, and Sugar Policy and Its Economic
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Public Opinion on Tobacco, Alcohol, and Sugar Policy and its Economic Implications in Sweden A study on sociodemographic factors’ effects on health policy attitudes of Swedes MASTER THESIS WITHIN: Economics NUMBER OF CREDITS: 30 ECTS PROGRAMME OF STUDY: Civilekonom AUTHOR: Jonas Karlsson TUTOR: Kristofer Månsson JÖNKÖPING May 2020 Abstract Using paired samples t-tests, this study examines attitudes toward government intervention to decrease the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and sugar to improve public health in Sweden. The effects of the four sociodemographic variables gender, age, education, and income on attitudes toward health policies are tested using Ordinary Least Squares and ordered probit regressions. The research is performed using cross-sectional data which is supplied by a national survey. The results show that tobacco should be regulated the most, followed by alcohol and lastly sugar. According to the respondents, tobacco and alcohol consumption need clear societal restrictions while individuals should be responsible for their sugar consumption. This implies that tobacco and alcohol restrictions introduced by the government should be effective and should, therefore, reduce the consumption and subsequently decrease a country’s economic costs. The opposite is true for sugar policy. Women, younger people, highly educated people, and people with higher incomes are positively related to support toward tobacco restrictions. Women, younger people, and highly educated people show more support for alcohol restrictions. Lastly, respondents with higher levels of education are more supportive of sugar restrictions. Keywords: Public opinion, Tobacco, Alcohol, Sugar, Sweden, Ordinary Least Squares, Ordered probit i Acknowledgments I would like to thank the University of Gothenburg for supplying the study with data from the SOM survey, without which performing this research would not have been possible. Moreover, I want to thank my tutor Kristofer Månsson for his highly valuable advice and guidance in the writing of this thesis. Special thanks go to my family, particularly my mother and father for supporting and helping me in various ways during the semester. Lastly, I would like to thank my friends and fellow students for their continuous support, which has kept me motivated during the writing process. Jönköping International Business School May 18, 2020 Jonas Karlsson ii Table of Contents 1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Economic implications of tobacco, alcohol, and sugar .................................. 2 1.3 Problem discussion ........................................................................................ 3 1.4 Purpose ........................................................................................................... 4 1.5 Research questions ......................................................................................... 4 2 Theoretical Framework ...................................................................... 6 2.1 Paternalism vs. Autonomy ............................................................................. 6 2.2 Government interventions to improve health ................................................ 7 2.3 Theories on the effect of sociodemographic factors ...................................... 8 2.3.1 The individual vulnerability hypothesis ............................................. 8 2.3.2 Other theories on sociodemographic factors ...................................... 9 2.4 Literature review .......................................................................................... 10 2.4.1 Public opinion on tobacco, alcohol and sugar policies ................... 10 2.4.2 Previous research on sociodemographic factors ............................. 10 2.5 Hypothesis formulation ................................................................................ 13 3 Data ..................................................................................................... 14 3.1 The SOM survey .......................................................................................... 14 3.1.1 Sample selection ............................................................................... 14 3.1.2 Limitations of the study .................................................................... 15 3.2 Variables of the study .................................................................................. 15 3.2.1 Dependent variable ........................................................................... 15 3.2.2 Sociodemographic factors ................................................................ 17 3.2.3 Control variables .............................................................................. 19 4 Method ............................................................................................... 21 4.1 Regression function ..................................................................................... 21 4.2 Analysis method ........................................................................................... 21 4.3 Specification tests ........................................................................................ 22 5 Results ................................................................................................ 23 5.1 Paired samples t-tests ................................................................................... 23 5.2 Ordinary Least Squares analysis .................................................................. 23 5.3 Ordered probit analysis ................................................................................ 25 5.3.1 Marginal effects of the ordered probit .............................................. 26 iii 5.4 Extended models .......................................................................................... 28 6 Discussion ........................................................................................... 34 7 Conclusions ........................................................................................ 38 7.1 Suggested future research ............................................................................ 39 References .................................................................................................. 40 Appendices ................................................................................................. 46 Appendix A ........................................................................................................... 46 Appendix B ............................................................................................................ 46 Appendix C ............................................................................................................ 47 List of Tables Table 1: Literature review summary ..................................................................................................... 11 Table 2: Mean, median, and standard deviation for attitudes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugar .............. 16 Table 3: Type and coding of independent variables of the study .......................................................... 17 Table 4: Mean, median, and standard deviation for the explanatory variables ..................................... 18 Table 5: Type and coding of additional explanatory variables ............................................................. 19 Table 6: Paired samples t-tests .............................................................................................................. 23 Table 7: Ordinary Least Squares regression ......................................................................................... 24 Table 8: Ordered probit regression ....................................................................................................... 25 Table 9: Marginal effects for tobacco ................................................................................................... 26 Table 10: Marginal effects for alcohol .................................................................................................. 27 Table 11: Marginal effects for sugar ..................................................................................................... 27 Table 12: Ordinary Least Squares regression, extended models .......................................................... 29 Table 13: Ordered probit regression, extended models......................................................................... 30 Table 14: Marginal effects for tobacco, extended model ...................................................................... 31 Table 15: Marginal effects for alcohol, extended model ...................................................................... 32 Table 16: Marginal effects for sugar, extended model.......................................................................... 33 Table 17: Variance inflation factor test ................................................................................................. 46 Table 18: Breusch-Pagan-Godfrey test ................................................................................................. 47 List of Figures Figure 1: Distribution of attitudes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugar ........................................................ 16 iv 1 Introduction 1.1 Background Public acceptance of behavior-changing policies is of great importance