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Animal Welfare and Social Decisions: Is It Time to Take Bentham Seriously?

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  • Johansson-Stenman, Olof

Abstract

This paper analyzes and questions the standard welfare economics assumption of anthropocentric welfarism, i.e., that only human well-being counts intrinsically. Alternatives where also animal welfare matters intrinsically are analyzed both theoretically and empirically. The general public's ethical preferences are measured through a survey of a representative sample in Sweden, and the responses from a clear majority suggest that animal welfare should indeed carry intrinsic weight in public decision making. Current legislation in many countries is consistent with this. A brief review of moral philosophy on animal welfare indicates that a large majority of philosophers believe that animal welfare should count intrinsically. It is moreover demonstrated that it is theoretically and practically possible to generalize welfare economics in order to give intrinsic value also to animal welfare. The paper concludes that there are strong reasons to (sometimes) generalize welfare economics in order to take animal welfare into account directly, i.e., in addition to effects through individual utilities. The practical implications of doing so are likely to be more important over time as the scientific methods of measuring animal welfare are gradually improving.

Suggested Citation

  • Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 2018. "Animal Welfare and Social Decisions: Is It Time to Take Bentham Seriously?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 90-103.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:145:y:2018:i:c:p:90-103
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.08.019
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Carlier, Alexis & Treich, Nicolas, 2020. "Directly Valuing Animal Welfare in (Environmental) Economics," International Review of Environmental and Resource Economics, now publishers, vol. 14(1), pages 113-152, April.
    2. Nicolas Treich, 2022. "The Dasgupta Review and the Problem of Anthropocentrism," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(4), pages 973-997, December.
    3. Chanhui Jeon & Haram Kim & Dongsoo Kim, 2024. "A Deep-Learning-Based System for Pig Posture Classification: Enhancing Sustainable Smart Pigsty Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-16, March.
    4. Hoarau-Heemstra, Hindertje & Kline, Carol, 2022. "Making kin and making sense of human-animal relations in tourism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    5. Marc Fleurbaey & Christy Leppanen, 2021. "Toward a theory of ecosystem well-being," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 257-295, October.
    6. Läpple, Doris & Osawe, Osayanmon Wellington, 2022. "Animal Welfare, Altruism and Policy Support," 96th Annual Conference, April 4-6, 2022, K U Leuven, Belgium 321212, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    7. Hestermann, Nina & Le Yaouanq, Yves & Treich, Nicolas, 2020. "An economic model of the meat paradox," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    8. Espinosa, Romain & Treich, Nicolas, 2024. "Animal welfare as a public good," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    9. Becker, Christian U., 2023. "Ethical underpinnings for the economy of the Anthropocene: Sustainability ethics as key to a sustainable economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    10. Romain Espinosa & Nicolas Treich, 2021. "Animal welfare: antispeciesism, veganism and a “life worth living”," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 56(3), pages 531-548, April.
    11. Treich, Nicolas & Espinosa, Romain, 2024. "The Animal-Welfare Levy," TSE Working Papers 24-1503, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    12. Glen William Spiteri, 2022. "Does the evaluability bias hold when giving to animal charities?," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 17(2), pages 315-330, March.
    13. repec:cup:judgdm:v:17:y:2022:i:2:p:315-330 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Funke, Franziska & Mattauch, Linus & van den Bijgaart, Inge & Godfray, Charles & Hepburn, Cameron & Klenert, David & Springmann, Marco & Treich, Nicholas, 2021. "Is Meat Too Cheap? Towards Optimal Meat Taxation," INET Oxford Working Papers 2021-08, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    15. Franziska Funke & Linus Mattauch & Inge van den Bijgaart & H. Charles J. Godfray & Cameron Hepburn & David Klenert & Marco Springmann & Nicolas Treich, 2022. "Toward Optimal Meat Pricing: Is It Time to Tax Meat Consumption?," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(2), pages 219-240.
    16. Amy W. Ando & Titus O. Awokuse & Nathan W. Chan & Jimena González-Ramírez & Sumeet Gulati & Matthew G. Interis & Sarah Jacobson & Dale T. Manning & Samuel Stolper, 2024. "Environmental and Natural Resource Economics and Systemic Racism," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(1), pages 143-164.
    17. Perino, Grischa & Schwirplies, Claudia, 2022. "Meaty arguments and fishy effects: Field experimental evidence on the impact of reasons to reduce meat consumption," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    18. Kitano, Shinichi & Mitsunari, Yuka & Yoshino, Akira, 2022. "The impact of information asymmetry on animal welfare-friendly consumption: Evidence from milk market in Japan," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    19. Noel Semple, 2021. "Good Enough for Government Work? Life-Evaluation and Public Policy," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1119-1140, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Animal welfare; Anthropocentrism; Welfarism; Ethical preferences; Cost-benefit analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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