Compassion, by the Pound: The Economics of Farm Animal Welfare
本书从经济学视角分析农场动物福利问题，提供数据和分析帮助经济学家与非经济学家沟通，但主要面向美国读者，使用美国单位“磅”而非货币单位。
This useful and important book takes a clear and direct economic approach to issues often treated as matters of emotion, philosophy, history, anthropology or biological science. Because the book addresses a broad audience, the authors explain the role of economics in considering animal welfare early and explicitly. The early sections also include a quick history of 5,000 years of human interaction with animals, a review of the last couple of centuries of animal welfare advocacy and occasional précis of arguments of philosophers and moralists, which are beyond the expertise of this reviewer to evaluate. This review necessarily highlights the usefulness of the book for economists, although part of that usefulness is in providing data and analysis economists can use in communicating with non-economists. European readers will note immediately the American orientation of the book even as it includes some European history and evidence. The ‘by the Pound’ in the title refers to an antiquated unit of weight still used in the United States, and not to a unit of currency, even though much of the book is focused on placing an economic, monetary or willingness-to-pay value on animal welfare. This orientation to an American audience extends beyond the specific literature to the broad summary data about agriculture and discussions of ‘factory farming’ and the politics of animal rights and animal welfare. Moreover, even some of the attempts to reach a broad audience with analogies and metaphors may be puzzling for non-Americans. For example, to explain self-contemplation, the authors begin, ‘Imagine playing an outfielder in a softball game … ’ (p. 69). I would venture that many readers outside of the United States will have a harder time figuring out the example than the actual point that humans too sometimes act without the hesitation that may be required for much conscious thought.