My primary research interest lies in the intersection of industrial organization, marketing and health economics, with a particular emphasis on the dynamic nature of retail markets. I use scanner data, barcode nutrition data and advertising spending data to investigate the complex interplay between advertising strategies, front-of-package and back-of-package nutrition labelling, and various national health, food and nutritional policies. By examining these critical aspects, I aim to shed light on the dynamics that shape consumer choices and industry practices among retailers and manufacturers.
Christoph Bauner, Rajib Rahman, The effect of front-of-package nutrition labelling on product composition, European Review of Agricultural Economics, 2024;, jbae004, https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbae004
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Top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric, top 2% of all outputs of the same source , top most than of all outputs of the same age & source (link)
Gimire, Shankar, Kul Kapri, and Md Rajib-Ur Rahman. Imitate or innovate? FDI, technology, and income levels in middle income countries, Journal of Development Innovations 2.1 (2018): 1-13
The Effect of Singapore's Sugar-Sweetened-Beverage Advertising Ban on Product Entry (with Christian Rojas)- Revised & Resubmitted at AJAE. (link)
We estimate the causal effect of Singapore’s 2019 announcement of a nationwide advertising ban on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). The policy barred advertising for SSBs exceeding a sugar content threshold across all media channels. Using product-level data from 2016–2023 and a combination of synthetic control and difference-in-differences methods, we evaluate how manufacturers adjusted their product launch strategies in response. Our results show that the average sugar content of newly launched products declined significantly in four of six major SSB categories: by 38% in instant coffee, 24% in soft drinks, 21% in iced coffee, and 18% in juice. These reductions were not narrowly concentrated near the policy threshold but were instead driven by a sharp increase in product introductions with low or zero sugar content. Notably, the response was widespread, extending to branded and existing products, suggesting a broad reformulation effort rather than isolated niche behavior. Moreover, we find evidence of supply-side responses by both local and international manufacturers, but in different categories depending on market presence. This study is among the first to examine the supply-side effects of a sugar policy, in contrast to prior work that focuses primarily on demand-side responses to taxes or warning labels. It also evaluates a relatively rare intervention: a government-imposed advertising ban applied to an entire product class. The results suggest that advertising bans can serve as a powerful policy lever, complementary to sugar taxes, for reducing added sugar exposure in the population, particularly by incentivizing structural product reformulation.
Firms’ Advertising Strategies and Effectiveness of Traditional Advertising under Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSB) Tax Policy
I estimate the causal effects of soda tax policy on firms' advertising strategies and its effect on advertising elasticity in Berkeley across major diet and regular soda brands. Using weekly sales and advertising spending data from 2014 to 2015, I analyze the impact of Berkeley, California’s soda tax policy, passed on November 2014, on the advertising effectiveness for diet and regular soft drinks across major brands, as well as its impact on firms' advertising expenditure. While existing literature provides evidence of advertising effectiveness across various products from a marketing perspective, I examine how this effectiveness changes under soda tax policies, a public health tool frequently used to mitigate the health risks of excessive sugar intake from soft drink consumption. I find evidence that advertising is less effective in the regular soda category under such policies in Berkeley compared to the beverage category, which was not taxed. I also find significant evidence that firms reduced advertising spending for regular soda by approximately 16.4% in the post-policy Berkeley. Additionally, firms adopted spatial marketing strategies, decreasing advertising spending near Berkeley while increasing it in more distant areas. These findings offer new insights into soda tax policies and have important implications for manufacturers' pricing and marketing strategies, as well as for policymakers regarding public health outcomes.
Optimal Advertising, Market Power and Its Impact on Diet vs Non-Diet Soda Sales.
I am planning to focus on how advertising for diet vs non-diet impacts consumers and manufacturers and if there is any difference in terms of welfare. This could be particularly important in formulating policies and regulations regarding targeted advertising as well as corresponding sugar and caffeine composition of different products. This is a work-in-progress paper that I am currently working on.
Demand for Healthy Food, and Implications for Consumer and Manufacturer.
Third paper is mostly about estimating demand and profit margin for differentiated products between healthy and less healthy products and their implications on consumer welfare. I am using Yogurt sales data from Nielsen RMS scanner data and Mintel nutrition data and planning to focus on how market power might impact consumer surplus and whether it's the manufacturers best interest to promote healthy foods in the market.