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Putting the Chicken Before the Egg Price: An Ex Post Analysis of California's Battery Cage Ban

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  • Malone, Trey
  • Lusk, Jayson L.

Abstract

California legislation outlawed the use and sale of battery cages for egg-laying hens in 2015. While a number of ex ante studies projected the effects of the housing prohibitions, the ultimate ex post effects are unknown. Using a price series reported by the USDA, we study the movement of daily egg prices in California and the United States before and after the law’s implementation. Depending on the methods used, we find that Californians now pay between $0.48 and $1.08 more for a dozen eggs. The estimates suggest an annual reduction in California consumer surplus of between $400 million and $850 million.

Suggested Citation

  • Malone, Trey & Lusk, Jayson L., 2016. "Putting the Chicken Before the Egg Price: An Ex Post Analysis of California's Battery Cage Ban," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(3), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:jlaare:246252
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.246252
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    Cited by:

    1. Hopkins, Kelsey A. & McKendree, Melissa G. S. & Rice, Emma D., 2020. "Understanding the U.S. Publics’ Voting on Animal Welfare and Genetically Modified Organism Labeling Ballot Initiatives," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304519, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. repec:ags:aaea22:335949 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Malone, Trey & Schaefer, K. Aleks & Lusk, Jayson L., 2021. "Unscrambling U.S. egg supply chains amid COVID-19," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    4. Ufer, Danielle, 2022. "State Policies for Farm Animal Welfare in Production Practices of U.S. Livestock and Poultry Industries: An Overview," USDA Miscellaneous 333544, United States Department of Agriculture.
    5. Nathan Pelletier & Maurice Doyon & Bruce Muirhead & Tina Widowski & Jodey Nurse-Gupta & Michelle Hunniford, 2018. "Sustainability in the Canadian Egg Industry—Learning from the Past, Navigating the Present, Planning for the Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-24, September.
    6. Hopkins, Kelsey A. & McKendree, Melissa G.S. & Schaefer, K. Aleks, 2022. "Resolving the reality gap in farm regulation voting models," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    7. Shon M. Ferguson, 2023. "Unconstrained trade: The impact of EU cage bans on exports of poultry‐keeping equipment," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 435-449, June.
    8. Sohae Eve Oh & Tomislav Vukina, 2022. "The price of cage‐free eggs: Social cost of Proposition 12 in California," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(4), pages 1293-1326, August.
    9. Brorsen, B. Wade, 2017. "2016 WAEA Presidential Address: Comments on Agricultural Economics Research," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 42(1), pages 1-9, January.
    10. Sohae Eve Oh & Tomislav Vukina, 2018. "Substitutability between organic and conventional poultry products and organic price premiums," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 20(1), pages 75-92.
    11. Conner Mullally & Jayson L Lusk, 2018. "The Impact of Farm Animal Housing Restrictions on Egg Prices, Consumer Welfare, and Production in California," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(3), pages 649-669.
    12. Keller, Andrew & Boland, Michael & Çakır, Metin, 2020. "The Impact of an Increase in the Federal Minimum Wage on the Egg Industry," Staff Papers 303916, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    13. Marco J. W. Kotschedoff & Max J. Pachali, 2020. "Higher Minimum Quality Standards and Redistributive Effects on Consumer Welfare," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(1), pages 253-280, January.
    14. Mitchell, James L. & Thompson, Jada M. & Malone, Trey, 2024. "Biological lags and market dynamics in vertically coordinated food supply chains: HPAI impacts on U.S. egg prices," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    15. Lai, Yufeng & Boaitey, Albert & Minegishi, Kota, 2022. "Behind the veil: Social desirability bias and animal welfare ballot initiatives," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    16. Christina Biedny & Trey Malone & Jayson L. Lusk, 2020. "Exploring Polarization in US Food Policy Opinions," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3), pages 434-454, September.
    17. Nicolas Treich, 2018. "Veganomics : vers une approche économique du véganisme ?," Revue française d'économie, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 0(4), pages 3-48.
    18. Stone, Janine & Costanigro, Marco & Goemans, Christopher, 2018. "Public Opinion on ColoradoWater Rights Transfers: Are Policy Preferences Consistent with Concerns over Impacts?," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 43(3), September.
    19. Kent D. Messer & Marco Costanigro & Harry M. Kaiser, 2017. "Labeling Food Processes: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 39(3), pages 407-427.
    20. Paul, Andrew S. & Lusk, Jayson L. & Norwood, F. Bailey & Tonsor, Glynn T., 2019. "An experiment on the vote-buy gap with application to cage-free eggs," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 102-109.
    21. Colin A. Carter & K. Aleks Schaefer & Daniel Scheitrum, 2021. "Piecemeal Farm Regulation and the U.S. Commerce Clause," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 1141-1163, May.
    22. Jayson L. Lusk, 2019. "Consumer preferences for cage‐free eggs and impacts of retailer pledges," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(2), pages 129-148, April.
    23. Ochs, Dan & Wolf, Christopher A. & Widmar, Nicole Olynk & Bir, Courtney & Lai, John, 2019. "Hen housing system information effects on U.S. egg demand," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-1.

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