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Valuing Farm Animal Welfare in a Market Economy: a Philosophical Study of Market Failure

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Valuing Farm Animal Welfare in a Market Economy: a Philosophical Study of Market Failure Durham E-Theses Valuing Farm Animal Welfare in a Market Economy: A Philosophical Study of Market Failure VENTIN, MARCUS How to cite: VENTIN, MARCUS (2020) Valuing Farm Animal Welfare in a Market Economy: A Philosophical Study of Market Failure , Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13661/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Valuing Farm Animal Welfare in a Market Economy A Philosophical Study of Market Failure Marcus Ventin Abstract: Do people in the UK care about farm animal welfare? How well are their concerns represented in society? How can we use economic policy to build a society that reflects public attitudes towards farm animals and their welfare? In this thesis, I contend that markets in animal products – which facilitate many people’s quotidian interactions with farm animal welfare – are susceptible to four forms of market failure: externalities, public good problems, information asymmetries and uncompetitive consumer behaviour. I analyse how these market failures can subvert the expression of altruistic preferences and prevent markets from reflecting the public’s concern for farm animal welfare, before considering how policymakers can address these market failures. I conclude that preference satisfaction theories of utility and welfare do not provide a suitable grounding for economic farm animal welfare policy, which should instead seek to ensure that public values are appropriately represented in society. I develop a policy framework that draws upon public values and facts about farm animal welfare in society to assist policymakers in this work. Where the public is almost universally opposed to certain husbandry practices, government intervention to directly protect farm animal welfare is likely to be in almost everyone’s interests, and animal welfare should be viewed as a public good. Where significant groups of people are opposed to the use of certain practices, market intervention through externality policies may be justified as a means of affording greater representation to the public’s altruistic concern for farm animal welfare: farm animal welfare should be viewed as a merit good in these cases. Where public values are largely represented in society, farm animal welfare should be treated as a private good: policymakers should empower consumers to express any further dissatisfaction towards animal agriculture through market mechanisms. 1 Valuing Farm Animal Welfare in a Market Economy A Philosophical Study of Market Failure Marcus Ventin Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy Durham University 2020 2 Contents List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... 6 Statement of Copyright ........................................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 8 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 10 1. The Lives (and Deaths) of Others ............................................................................................................ 10 2. Talking About Talking About Animal Welfare .......................................................................................... 14 3. Overview .................................................................................................................................................. 16 Chapter 1 – The Fundamentals: Utility and Efficiency .................................................................. 18 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 18 2. Classical Utilitarianism ............................................................................................................................. 19 3. Preference Utilitarianism......................................................................................................................... 21 a. History .................................................................................................................................................................. 21 b. Preferences .......................................................................................................................................................... 22 c. Types of Preference .............................................................................................................................................. 23 d. Utility Functions ................................................................................................................................................... 33 e. Welfare ................................................................................................................................................................. 34 f. Social Utility .......................................................................................................................................................... 37 4. Efficiency ................................................................................................................................................. 40 a. Pareto Efficiency ................................................................................................................................................... 41 b. Kaldor-Hicks Efficiency ......................................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 2 – The Actors: Consumers, Producers and Farm Animals ............................................... 48 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 48 2. Price Motivations and Farm Animal Welfare .......................................................................................... 49 a. Pareto Efficiency and Farm Animal Welfare ......................................................................................................... 50 b. Kaldor-Hicks Efficiency and Farm Animal Welfare ................................................................................................ 57 3. Consumer Preferences for Farm Animal Welfare.................................................................................... 60 4. Willingness to Pay for Farm Animal Welfare ........................................................................................... 61 5. Summary.................................................................................................................................................. 62 Chapter 3 – The Imperfect Stage: Markets and their Failures ....................................................... 64 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 64 2. Free Markets ........................................................................................................................................... 64 3. Perfectly Competitive Markets ................................................................................................................ 66 4. The Problem with Perfectly Competitive Markets .................................................................................. 68 5. Summary.................................................................................................................................................. 69 Chapter 4 – Externalities ............................................................................................................ 71 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 71 2. Externalities ............................................................................................................................................. 71 3 3. Externalities in Animal Agriculture .......................................................................................................... 74 4. Externality Policy Aims ............................................................................................................................ 77 5. Taxes ........................................................................................................................................................ 78 6. Consumer Subsidies................................................................................................................................
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