Why does animal welfare matter? For some, it is because people care about animals; for others, it is because animals themselves are morally relevant. Given the importance of welfare in economics research and the debates around climate change and biodiversity loss, more economists are becoming interested in the economics of animal welfare. Animal Economics provides a general introduction to this new field. It explores the complexity of the behavioral attitude of humans toward animals using behavioral economics and explains how existing economic theory can be applied to understand animal welfare as an externality. Combining theory and empirical research to address key issues in animal welfare, including ethical perspectives, public opinion, market demand, and policy design, this book builds on economics principles to explore how to implement optimal policies that reflect human proanimal concerns and the moral status of animals.
Why does animal welfare matter? For some, it is because people care about animals; for others, it is because animals themselves are morally relevant. Given the importance of welfare in economics research and the debates around climate change and biodiversity loss, more economists are becoming interested in the economics of animal welfare. Animal Economics provides a general introduction to this new field. It explores the complexity of the behavioral attitude of humans toward animals using behavioral economics and explains how existing economic theory can be applied to understand animal welfare as an externality. Combining theory and empirical research to address key issues in animal welfare, including ethical perspectives, public opinion, market demand, and policy design, this book builds on economics principles to explore how to implement optimal policies that reflect human proanimal concerns and the moral status of animals.
Über den Autor
Nicolas Treich is a research associate at the Toulouse School of Economics and National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE) in Toulouse, France. A pioneer in the emerging field of animal economics, he has authored over a dozen publications in leading economics journals and has delivered numerous keynote lectures on the economics of animal welfare.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Preliminaries, 1. Introduction; 2. Animals in this world; Part I. The Direct Approach: 3. Sentientism; 4. Assessing animal welfare; 5. Utility potentials; 6. The social welfare function; 7. A simple consumption model; 8. Animal welfare standards; 9. Animal population ethics; 10. Valuing animal welfare; Part II. The Indirect Approach: 11. Proanimal concerns: empirical studies; 12. Behavioral studies; 13. Proanimal concerns: theoretical aspects; 14. An economic model of the meat paradox; 15. Some economics of pets; 16. Markets and morals; 17. Further excursions; 18. Conclusion.
