Economic analysis of animal welfare interventions helps prioritize the most cost-effective routes to welfare improvement across the billions of animals in commercial systems.
Animal welfare economics applies cost-effectiveness analysis to the question of how to improve the most animal lives with available resources. This framework reveals that interventions targeting the largest animal populations suffering the most significant welfare problems deliver the greatest return on welfare investment. The billions of chickens and fish in commercial systems, experiencing significant welfare problems, typically offer higher welfare-per-dollar than interventions focused on smaller companion animal populations. Understanding welfare economics helps advocates, donors, and policymakers direct limited resources toward maximum welfare impact.