Pigs and Guinea Pigs: A Note on the Ethics of Animal Exploitation.

Discussions of the morality of animal exploitation must deal with the fact that these activities result in animal populations that would not otherwise exist. In this paper, simple economic models of animal-using food production and research are combined with explicit ethical criteria that are sensitive to animal well-being and numbers. The authors show that when animal exploitation is morally acceptable, lack of regulation results in too many food animals and research that is too animal-intensive. In addition, nonmarket control--through "bills of rights" for farm animals and research-practice standards--is necessary for ethical optimality. Copyright 1992 by Royal Economic Society.