32nd Annual Student Research Conference
The Sugar Industry: Lobbying and Protections in the United States
Annie E. Williams*, Annie R. Colwell, and Hunter R. Lambert
Dr. David Gillette, Faculty Mentor
We examine lobbying from the sugar industry and its effects on governmental protections for that industry. The existing literature provides background on sugar’s connection to obesity, the connection to the corn industry, consumer behavior, and potential solutions to rent seeking and regulatory capture. We test this relationship through variables such as raw sugar price, tariff-rate-quotas on imported sugars, and loan rates by year. In addition, we examine some of the regulatory agencies’ decisions regarding the sugar industry, such as constraining sugar taxes and daily percentage labeling and explore the link between sugar and the obesity epidemic that affected 93.3 million adults in the US in 2016 and continues to worsen.
Keywords: Sugar industry, Governmental protections, Obesity, Rent seeking, Regulatory capture, Loan rates, Taxes, Quotas
Topic(s):Economics
Political Science
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 310-2
Location: MC 211
Time: 1:45