Executive summary: Government subsidies for farm animal welfare improvements would be more effective and politically viable than traditional punitive policies, as they treat animal welfare as a public good that benefits all of society rather than just individual consumers.
Key points:
The “vote-buy gap” shows people support animal welfare in voting but not purchasing, suggesting they view it as a collective rather than individual issue.
Animal welfare functions as a public good similar to climate action, where individual consumer choices have minimal impact but collective action matters.
Current policies rely on bans and mandates that pass costs to consumers, which is regressive and politically difficult.
Subsidies would be more effective by:
Spreading costs across all taxpayers who benefit from a more humane system
Enabling high-leverage investments in R&D and transition costs
Creating positive incentives that include farmers rather than antagonizing them
Polling shows bipartisan support for government incentives supporting animal welfare technology, suggesting political viability.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.
Executive summary: Government subsidies for farm animal welfare improvements would be more effective and politically viable than traditional punitive policies, as they treat animal welfare as a public good that benefits all of society rather than just individual consumers.
Key points:
The “vote-buy gap” shows people support animal welfare in voting but not purchasing, suggesting they view it as a collective rather than individual issue.
Animal welfare functions as a public good similar to climate action, where individual consumer choices have minimal impact but collective action matters.
Current policies rely on bans and mandates that pass costs to consumers, which is regressive and politically difficult.
Subsidies would be more effective by:
Spreading costs across all taxpayers who benefit from a more humane system
Enabling high-leverage investments in R&D and transition costs
Creating positive incentives that include farmers rather than antagonizing them
Polling shows bipartisan support for government incentives supporting animal welfare technology, suggesting political viability.
This comment was auto-generated by the EA Forum Team. Feel free to point out issues with this summary by replying to the comment, and contact us if you have feedback.