Economic analysis of animal welfare improvements shows that many interventions are cost-effective or even cost-positive, challenging the assumption that welfare and productivity conflict.
The economic argument for animal welfare improvement is often stronger than assumed. Many welfare improvements also improve productivity - lame cows produce less milk, stressed pigs grow more slowly, sick broilers have higher mortality. The business case for welfare is therefore real in many contexts. Where welfare improvements do add costs, consumer willingness to pay for higher-welfare products can cover them, as demonstrated by the premium organic and higher-welfare sectors. Externalising the costs of welfare harms - antibiotic resistance, disease burden, environmental impact - onto society also distorts the economic comparison. Full-cost accounting supports welfare improvement.