Animal economics

Hosted jointly with the Global School of Sustainability at LSE and the The Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience (LSE Philosophy)

Humans care about animals, and many would argue that animals are morally relevant. Many of our decisions profoundly affect the welfare of animals and yet welfare economics has not, up to this point, considered animals in its frameworks, theories and cost-benefit calculations. This is poised to change with the publication of Animal Economics by Nicolas Treich, who is a pioneer in bringing animals into economics.

Nicolas Treich will present the main arguments of the book, which explores the complexity of human attitudes toward animals and combines this with economic theory to show how we can understand animal welfare as an externality and thereby incorporate animals into decisions. After the book presentation, a panel will debate and further explore the themes of the book.

Meet our speakers and chair

Keynote speaker

Nicolas Treich is a research associate at INRAE and TSE. He has written numerous papers on climate policy, the precautionary principle and other aspects of environmental decision making under uncertainty. In recent years, he has pioneered the economic analysis of animal welfare, resulting in the publication of Animal Economics, which will surely become a landmark publication for those who wish to know how to incorporate the welfare of animals in our policy decisions.

Discussants

Professor Jonathan Birch (@birchlse) is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the new Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience at LSE. In 2021, he led a “Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans” that led to invertebrate animals including octopuses, crabs and lobsters being included in the UK government’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act. In 2024, he published The Edge of Sentience: risk and precaution in humans, other animals, and AI, an Open Access book.

Dr Ganga Shreedhar is an Assistant Professor of Behavioural Science in LSE’s Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science and co-director of the MSc in Behavioural Science programme. She is an applied behavioural and experimental economist studying how to change human behaviour in ways benefit people and the planet. Her research examines how people perceive and understand complex dilemmas like mass extinction and climate change, and consumer and citizen motivations and choices.

Professor Richard Bennett is Research Dean for Food and Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Reading. His research interests are wide in relation to agriculture and food but he has a particular interest in the economics of animal health and welfare. Richard has served on various committees including 10 years on the government’s Farm Animal Welfare Committee and BBSRC’s Animal Welfare Advisory Group and is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees for two animal welfare charities, the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare and the Humane Slaughter Association.

Chair

Marion Dumas is an Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute at LSE. Her research focuses on finding the institutional, behavioural and policy processes that underpin successful green innovation, from EVs to plant-based foods. She is currently working on engaging consumers in deliberative processes to examine and reconsider their preferences regarding the consumption of animal-based products.