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Cities With Soda Taxes Saw Sales of Sugary Drinks Fall as Prices Rose

Sales of sugary drinks fell in five U.S. cities, after they implemented taxes targeting those drinks. On average, prices for sugar-sweetened drinks went up by 33.1% and total expenditure went down by 33%. Expenditure on sugary drinks outside of these cities increased.—npr.org

Answer the following questions to check your understanding of the story.

Using the data in the news clip, what is the price elasticity of demand for sugary drinks?

The demand for sugary drinks is ____________.

Wrong! - What is the total revenue test? How can we use the total revenue test to determine the price elasticity of demand for sugary drinks?

Well Done! - The total revenue test tells us that the demand for sugary drinks is elastic because when the price rises, total expenditure on sugary drinks, which equals total revenue, decreases.

Consider cities that implemented the tax on sugary drinks. What is the cross elasticity of demand for sugary drinks purchased outside of cities with respect to the price of sugary drinks purchased inside cities?

The cross elasticity of demand is ____________ because sugary drinks purchased inside the cities and sugary drinks purchased outside the cities are ____________.

Wrong! - When the price of sugary drinks inside the cities rises, the demand for sugary drinks outside the cities increases. Is the cross elasticity of demand negative or positive? What does the cross elasticity of demand tell us about the relationship between two goods?

Good Job! - When the price of sugary drinks inside the cities rises, the demand for sugary drinks outside the cities increases, so the cross elasticity of demand is positive. When the cross elasticity of demand is positive, the two goods are substitutes.

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