Dallas Royer

Microeconomics

Professor Joyner

04/12/2023

Soda Consumption Now Versus The Past

Soda consumption has risen in society since 1916. Soda used to be consumed in

smaller amounts because it was packaged and sold in smaller amounts. Since then the

amount of diseases from sugar has also risen. Most health experts would say there’s a

link between higher soda consumption and a higher amount of people with diabetes.

I interviewed my father who is 55 years old, loves soda, and also has been diagnosed

recently with diabetes.

Q: How many sodas do you consume in a week?

A: 2 or 3 a week

Q: What was your soda consumption 5 years ago?

A: 10 a week

Q: Ten years ago?

A: 12-15 a week

Q: What if anything changed your consumption of soda?

A: Diabetes and sugar count and had to cut down on sugar because neuropathy is

painful.

Q: Do you think you would have cut down on soda if you didn’t develop diabetes?
A:Nope I love it.

I read a research article that proposes a soda tax to reduce the consumption of

soda in hopes to lower health conditions due to high sugar diets. In this article “Soda

Taxes as a Legal and Social Movement” written by David Dana and Janice Nadler, I

learned that soda was originally sold in 6.5 oz bottles. Today a vending machine bottle

contains 20 ounces of soda which turns out to be about 3 times higher than the amount

sold in a bottle during 1916. Soda companies give you a cheaper price for a larger

amount purchased. Therefore maybe people would change their drinking habits if soda

cost more or resort to substitutes. Coke does not want to increase their price because

consumers would buy less. So now there is a social movement happening in some

states where they tax soda. Which in return the law of demand suggests that less soda

will be bought and consumed.

The research article and the primary research I did matched perfectly. Most

people enjoy soda and therefore over consume an unhealthy amount of soda. My father

would drink more than one soda a day, until his health started to decline. Most people in

America enjoy soda and consume soda in the amounts it is sold at. For example, when

the soda came in 6.5 oz bottles people would buy a bottle and drink it in its entirety.

Now that soda is sold most commonly in 20 oz bottles people drink a 20 oz bottle in its

entirety. Therefore over the years more soda is consumed than previous years.

Throughout the years this over-consumption causes health issues. The government

would like to tax soda for the reason of how consumers behave when the price of a

good increases, the demand for that good is less.

 Work Cited

Dana, D. A., Nadler, J. (2018) . Soda Taxes as a Legal and Social Movement.

Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy, 13 (2), 84-107.

Http://ccbcmd.idm.org/?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholerly-journals/soda-taxes-as-

legal-social-movement/docview/1999112470/se-2