Author(s)
Konstanze Albrecht, Florentin Kramer, Nora Szech

We revisit the long-standing question whether there is a relation between animal welfare and human ethics. Therefore, we elicit concern for animal welfare in an incentivized, direct, and real setup: Subjects choose between intensive farming versus organic living conditions for a hen. Guaranteeing organic living conditions is costly, but implies organic feed, access to daylight, and more space. We compare the interest in animal welfare with morally relevant dispositions in subjects, relying on well-established measures such as Machiavellianism scores and the Big 5 personality test. The data confirm a strong, positive relation between caring for animal welfare and moral dispositions.

JEL Codes
D01: Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
D62: Externalities
D69: Welfare Economics: Other
Keywords
animal welfare
human ethics
experiment
sustainability