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Abstract
This paper investigates the effects of banning soft drinks in schools on purchases
outside of school. We utilize unique household-level and store-level data sources in
combination with time-series and cross-sectional variation of state-level regulations in
a difference-in-differences(DD) approach. We detect a decrease in the overall trend in
sales, but observe this downward trend in households with and without children, as
well as in states with and without regulation. Controlling for advertising allows us to
further reject that leading brands intensify their advertising efforts and target children
to potentially offset their reduced presence at schools. Finally, we find no evidence
of substitution effects among possible beverage product alternatives. Our analysis
therefore suggests that soft drink bans at school reduce overall soft drink consumption
as school age children do not compensate for this limited availability at home.