The process by which societies adapt to increasing knowledge about the mental and physical capacities of animals and the ways in which they are affected by human activities has been described as a journey. Different countries and regions are at various stages of this journey, and will take a unique path, depending on their specific social and cultural dynamics. However, all participants are uni...

During transition, maintaining employment and providing a social safety net to the unemployed are important to social stability, which in turn is crucial for the productivity of the whole economy. Because independent institutions for social safety are lacking and firms with strong profit incentives have little incentives to promote social stability due to its public good nature, state-owned ent...

Private provision of public roads through build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts is increasing around the world. Under a BOT contract, a private firm would build a road, charge tolls to road users for a period, and then transfer the road to the government. By viewing a BOT contract as a combination of three variables of concession period, road capacity and toll charge, we study optimal BOT cont...

BACKGROUND Due to increased interest in animal welfare, there is now a need for a comprehensive assessment protocol to be used in intensive pig farming systems. There are two current welfare assessment protocols for pigs: Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocols (applicable in the Europe Union), that mostly focuses on animal-based measures, and the Swine Welfare Assurance Program (applicable in th...

The link between behaviour of a stockperson towards animals and the animals' behavioural response to humans is an important indicator of animal welfare. However, the economical importance of the human-animal relationship has only recently been acknowledged. The potential to improve animal productivity by improving these human-animal interactions is a positive step towards improving the welfare ...

In this paper, we discuss issues concerning the welfare of non-human primates used in laboratory research from an eco-ethological standpoint and suggest means of improving welfare. Following a brief review of the use of non-human primates in European countries and of the legislation that governs this use, we illustrate how a thorough eco-ethological knowledge of the species being studied can pl...

Do neoliberal economic policies help or hinder human development? Many have argued that such policies promote economic stability and growth, which may have indirect positive effects on human welfare. Others claim that neoliberal policies retard human development. We argue that neoliberal economic policies may improve the human welfare in ways that are independent of their effects on economic pe...

This paper considers the welfare implications of transfers to poor families that are conditional on school attendance and other forms of investment on their children’s human capital. Family decisions are assumed to be the result of (generalized) Nash bargaining between the two parents. We show that, as long as bequests are zero, conditional transfers are better for children than unconditional t...