Research Seminar: Taxation of Sugar Sweetened Beverages and the Nutrition of the Poor

Dr. Glenn Jenkins will discuss the links among taxation, income effects, nutrition, and household decision-making in low-income populations, with a focus on his research in Ethiopia. His work analyzes the impact of specific excise taxes of sugar-sweetened beverages on household income distribution and food purchasing patterns in Ethiopia. Dr. Jenkins is an expert in public finance, investment appraisal, and economic development, currently serving as a professor and director of the John Deutsch International Program on Investment Appraisal and Risk Analysis at Queen's University in Canada. He is an Institute Fellow Emeritus of Harvard University and held various roles at Harvard, including founder of the Program on Investment Appraisal and Management, director of the Harvard Institute for International Development, and director of the international tax program at Harvard Law. He has also served as an economic consultant to a number of governments and international financial institutions, including the governments of the Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Canada, Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Africa and United States, and to international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the Ford Foundation. He earned a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago.