2012年11月IB经济SL真题下载-Paper2
1. Study the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
Taxes on junk food and sugary drinks
（1）Some countries are considering indirect taxes on junk food or sugary drinks to reduce their consumption and increase government tax revenues. Over-consumption of goods with a high fat or sugar content has negative externalities, because it leads to obesity, serious health problems and additional health care costs. The principle behind such taxes is the same as taxes imposed on cigarettes and alcohol. These taxes are known as “fat taxes”.
（2）In the United Kingdom (UK), discussions focus on a tax on processed foods, snacks and sugary drinks. Another possibility would be to impose a tax on full-fat milk, butter and cheese, in order to induce consumers to switch to less fattening substitute products with a lower fat content. Foods with a high fat content are linked to heart disease and premature death.
（3）In the United States, some states are considering imposing a tax on sugary drinks to raise funds for health care. Denmark already has a tax on these drinks and is planning a new tax on some high-fat dairy products.
（4）However, research indicates that such taxes would have a disproportionately large effect on low income households. One reason is that low income individuals tend to consume a larger amount of foods with a high fat content because these are cheaper. This is an important reason why low income individuals tend to be less healthy than wealthier people. It has also been argued that low income individuals respond to higher food prices by eating smaller quantities of healthy food.
（5）Food manufacturers have been angered by the idea of a “fat tax”, arguing that the public would rebel against it.
（6）Studies have shown that the demand for most categories of foods and beverages is price inelastic. According to a representative of the Food and Drink Federation in the UK, “the fat tax may be a perfectly sensible issue to debate, but such a regressive taxation policy would reduce the purchasing power of consumers”. He argues that it would be better if food manufacturers voluntarily improved their products.
(a) Define the following terms indicated in bold in the text:
(i) indirect taxes (paragraph （1）)
(ii) price inelastic (paragraph （6）).
(b) Using an appropriate diagram, explain how consumption of unhealthy foods creates negative externalities (paragraph （1）).
(c) Using an appropriate diagram, explain how a tax on foods with a high fat content is expected to impact on the market for substitute products with a lower fat content (paragraph （2）).
(d) Using information from the text/data and your knowledge of economics, evaluate the likely consequences of indirect taxes applied to junk food and sugary drinks.
2. Study the extract below and answer the questions that follow.
Price controls in Venezuela
（1）The Venezuelan government ordered that street vendors who operate within the formal economy may only sell basic foods if they respect the government imposed price ceilings and guarantee the necessary conditions of “hygiene and healthfulness”. The law also made official the “absolute ban on sales” of basic foods “in the informal market where there is no guarantee of selling at the prices established by the national administration”.
（2）Foods included in the government price controls are rice, wheat flour, pasta, beef, chicken, cheese, eggs, sugar, ground coffee and salt amongst many others. Since 2003, President Chavez’s government has maintained price controls on roughly 100 food and medical products considered basic necessities.
（3）In Venezuela, food items with price controls sometimes disappear from supermarket and grocery-store shelves. Most items can still be found, but only in the informal market. As a result of this, resources are being misallocated.
（4）White rice, the staple food for many Venezuelans, can now only be sold at a price of 2.15 Bolivar Fuertes (VEF the Venezuelan currency) per kilo. Private companies insist that production of a kilo costs 4.41 VEF and that companies will quickly go bankrupt. Some companies were colouring the rice they produce in order to avoid the government controls as the price ceilings apply only to white rice.
（5）Another result of the restrictions is that local farmers will not supply the selected food products at the government imposed prices thus forcing Venezuela to rely more on imports of these products.
（6）The aim of the Venezuelan government is to reduce the cost of the basic shopping basket of ordinary Venezuelans at a time when inflation is running at 20.5 % annually. Critics claim that Chavez’s price controls serve as a substitute for more effective anti-inflation policies and fear that prices will rise dramatically once controls are removed.
(a) Define the following terms indicated in bold in the text:
(i) informal market (paragraph （1）)
(ii) inflation (paragraph （6）).
(b) Using an appropriate diagram, explain why “food items with price controls sometimes disappear from supermarket and grocery-store shelves” (paragraph （3）).
(c) Using an appropriate diagram, explain an anti-inflation policy that Venezuela might use as an alternative to the price controls described in the text.
(d) Using information from the text/data and your knowledge of economics, evaluate the extent to which price ceilings are an effective means of protecting consumers from higher prices.
2012年11月IB经济SL真题余下省略！
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