Heterogeneity in the tax pass-through to spirit retail prices: Evidence from Belgium

On 1st November 2015, the Belgian government increased the excise tax on alcoholic beverages. For spirits with 40% of alcohol and bottle size of 70cl, this tax change is equivalent to an amount of 2,43€ per bottle of spirits. This paper studies the impact of this tax reform on the retail price of six major brands of spirits, using a difference-in-differences method. The estimation is based on a balanced panel of scanner data from a major supermarket chain and uses the retail prices of the same brands sold in France by the same supermarket chain as a control group. Having information on each... Mehr ...