Animals are all around us. They provide us with food, clothing, and companionship. Our human activities affect them, often without us realizing it. And yet many animals are sentient: they can feel pain and emotions; in other words, they experience "welfare".
In his book Animal Economics (Cambridge University Press), Nicolas Treich, Director of Research at TSE and INRAE, explores how to include animals and their welfare in economic analysis, which has traditionally focused on human welfare only According to him, there are two approaches to examining this subject:
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The direct approach, which assumes that animal welfare is part of the overall social objective. In this case, our actions that affect animals can be seen as externalities. Traditional economic tools, such as taxes/subsidies or quality standards, can then help to design better public policies concerning animals. But this non- anthropocentric approach faces several challenges: the ethics of populations, the difficulty of comparing welfare between species, and the fact that animals have no political voice.
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The indirect approach focuses on human concerns about animals, but this concern is uneven. We love some animals and ignore others. We donate to charities and shelters, but forget about them when we buy food or clothing. Drawing on economics, psychology, and other fields, Nicolas develops a behavioral theory of our interest in animals to explain these patterns.
With an innovative vision of the economics of animal welfare, this book, although academic, is aimed at a wider audience, as Nicolas explains: "My hope is that this book will provide students, researchers, decision-makers, and animal advocates with the keys to integrating animal welfare into economic thinking, but also to integrating economic thinking into the protection of animal welfare."
For journalists interested in animals, and more broadly in environmental and agricultural issues, who are curious to discover an original and committed approach to economics.
Nicolas Treich is Director of Research at TSE and INRAE. He is available for video interviews in English and French. If you're interested, please reach out to TSE Press Officer, Caroline Pain caroline.pain@tse-fr.eu
