Willingness to Accept to reduce animal welfare by removing the ban on caged eggs in California, Massachusetts, and Nevada

Atiyeh Sakeni, Jerrod Penn, Wuyang Hu and John Lai

No 360846, 2025 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2025, Denver, CO from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: A recent outbreak of avian influenza increased egg prices nationwide. One combating proposal to reducing the cost of eggs is to remove the ban on caged eggs. However, it would decrease the welfare of laying hens. We investigate Willingness to Accept (WTA), the level of savings required among consumers in California, Massachusetts, and Nevada to support the removal of the ban on caged eggs, potentially reducing animal welfare. We find the average WTA is $1.71, $1.76, and $1.85 (37.3%, 38.8%, and 37.7% of average prices) in California, Massachusetts, and Nevada, respectively. It implies that shoppers from these states need a substantial decrease in egg prices to support the removal of the ban. Based on industry cost estimates, this required level of savings exceeds expected cost savings to farmers resulted from using cages, suggesting that the ban on cage-free eggs should be maintained in all three states.

Keywords: Marketing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea25:360846

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.360846

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