News and Updates

https://www.salon.com/2024/07/13/on-sugary-beverages-are-working-should-they-be-placed-on-ultra-processed-foods/

More Media coverage Links 

 U C Berkeley News in memoriam for Betty Sadoulet , article from Nov 5, 2025 (link is external).

Soda Wars, 2019, Breakthroughs Article Sticker shock may not have been the only force driving the decline in soda consumption in Berkeley after residents voted to enact the nation’s first soda tax in November 2014. The election, and the vigorous campaigning around the tax that led up to the vote, also may have played a major role in changing habits, shows a study by College of Natural Resources economists. The study authors analyzed food and drink purchases at UC Berkeley–owned dining facilities and in drugstores in the city of Berkeley before and after residents voted in favor of levying a penny-per-ounce tax on all sugar-sweetened beverages...

The Economist, on the Libor, The Scam Busters , 2013  These are nervy times for price-fixers. Banks that allegedly manipulated LIBOR, an interbank interest rate, are awaiting their punishment. At $800 trillion, the market is the largest ever to have been rigged. Fines to follow that imposed on Barclays in the summer are expected soon for other rate-fixing banks; this week saw the first arrests connected with the LIBOR scandal. Other cartels also have reason to be jumpy. The LIBOR case provides a good example of how competition authorities can use price data to scan markets, quickly spotting even small-scale collusion...

The secrets of shopping, 2013  Chicago Booth, Educated customers buy generic. Here’s a conundrum that has long bothered economists: why do people pay more to buy branded products when generic alternatives are available? How much of a consumer’s decision to pay more for a branded product is driven by knowledge about its benefits, and how much is due to incomplete information? Some researchers are seeking to answer such questions through field experiments. Mariana Carrera of Case Western Reserve University and Sofia Villas-Boas at the University of California, Berkeley wondered why branded over-the-counter drugs still command up to 60% of market share. They got permission from a national supermarket chain to change the shelf tags for several branded and generic drugs at six locations...