Showing posts with label Externalities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Externalities. Show all posts
Animal rights and externalities
Let's look at the Guardian article:
"From Balenciaga’s £845-a-pair high-top black python trainers for men to a full-length trenchcoat sported by Rihanna, snakeskin – or python in particular – is having something of a fashion moment. Demand for the luxury patterned leather is riding so high that Kering – the company behind big brands including Gucci, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen – has built its own python farm. The Paris-based company has set up a farm in Thailand, complete with breeding stock, and the snakes will be raised in “the best conditions for animals, farmers and the ecosystem” before they are turned into shoes, bags and belts.
Read more
If we look at the whole article we can see that the central theme is about the use of exotic animal skins for fashion.
From the article:
"Marie-Claire Daveu, chief sustainability officer for Kering, said: “This is a long-term commitment to developing sustainable and responsible sourcing of Kering’s python skins – it takes time to ensure this is done to the highest standards.” The farm, she said, was intended to secure the supply of skins and show how farming could be done sustainably and humanely."
What about animal rights/abuse and externalities?
There's a paper here which, according to the abstract. considers these externalities:
"Animal welfare is emerging as one of the most controversial issues in modern livestock agriculture. Although consumers can buy free range products in niche markets, some have argued that existing markets cannot solve the animal welfare dilemma because there are individuals who care about animal well-being who do not eat animal products. This paper proposes a market-based solution to at least partially manage animal welfare externalities. After discussing the current lack of market incentives to promote farm animal well-being, a potential scheme to quantify and trade units of farm animal well-being is proposed. The potential merits and efficacy of an animal welfare market are also discussed."
There's an interesting article here that concludes...
"It would be perfectly logical for the government to impose a greenhouse gas tax on suppliers. The production and consumption of meat creates significant negative externalities in the form of public health issues, the environment and climate change. We should all be wondering why the meat industry has been excluded from the carbon tax."
There's a blog here that concludes:
"Leaving cows to breed freely and not be consumed by humans is a worse externality on our society than eating them. By being a meat eater, I am creating a positive externality on our planet by keeping animals from over breeding, crowding out humans, destroying fertile land, and generally destroying the environment."
Finally there is this paper here that says in the introduction:
"Laws criminalizing animal abuse should apply to the agricultural industry. When we exempt the agricultural industry from these laws, factory farms increase production to unnaturally high levels. This increased production causes devastating environmental effects, such as climate change, water shortages, and the loss of topsoil. In light of these effects, the law needs to do much more to regulate the agricultural industry, and the first step should
"From Balenciaga’s £845-a-pair high-top black python trainers for men to a full-length trenchcoat sported by Rihanna, snakeskin – or python in particular – is having something of a fashion moment. Demand for the luxury patterned leather is riding so high that Kering – the company behind big brands including Gucci, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen – has built its own python farm. The Paris-based company has set up a farm in Thailand, complete with breeding stock, and the snakes will be raised in “the best conditions for animals, farmers and the ecosystem” before they are turned into shoes, bags and belts.
Read more
If we look at the whole article we can see that the central theme is about the use of exotic animal skins for fashion.
From the article:
"Marie-Claire Daveu, chief sustainability officer for Kering, said: “This is a long-term commitment to developing sustainable and responsible sourcing of Kering’s python skins – it takes time to ensure this is done to the highest standards.” The farm, she said, was intended to secure the supply of skins and show how farming could be done sustainably and humanely."
What about animal rights/abuse and externalities?
There's a paper here which, according to the abstract. considers these externalities:
"Animal welfare is emerging as one of the most controversial issues in modern livestock agriculture. Although consumers can buy free range products in niche markets, some have argued that existing markets cannot solve the animal welfare dilemma because there are individuals who care about animal well-being who do not eat animal products. This paper proposes a market-based solution to at least partially manage animal welfare externalities. After discussing the current lack of market incentives to promote farm animal well-being, a potential scheme to quantify and trade units of farm animal well-being is proposed. The potential merits and efficacy of an animal welfare market are also discussed."
There's an interesting article here that concludes...
"It would be perfectly logical for the government to impose a greenhouse gas tax on suppliers. The production and consumption of meat creates significant negative externalities in the form of public health issues, the environment and climate change. We should all be wondering why the meat industry has been excluded from the carbon tax."
There's a blog here that concludes:
"Leaving cows to breed freely and not be consumed by humans is a worse externality on our society than eating them. By being a meat eater, I am creating a positive externality on our planet by keeping animals from over breeding, crowding out humans, destroying fertile land, and generally destroying the environment."
Finally there is this paper here that says in the introduction:
"Laws criminalizing animal abuse should apply to the agricultural industry. When we exempt the agricultural industry from these laws, factory farms increase production to unnaturally high levels. This increased production causes devastating environmental effects, such as climate change, water shortages, and the loss of topsoil. In light of these effects, the law needs to do much more to regulate the agricultural industry, and the first step should
be to criminalize cruelty to agricultural animals. This would force the industry to slow down production to more natural levels that are much less harmful to the environment."
Air pollution
Air pollution levels have reached "very high" or "high" in eight regions across the UK, the government has said.
People with lung problems, adults with heart problems, or older people should avoid strenuous physical activity in the most badly hit areas, it said.
In London, the Mayor issued a separate "very high" alert about "filthy" air.
Northern Ireland, south-west England, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside all had "high" pollution levels in some areas, according to Defra
Read more...
Coca Cola!
EXTERNALITIES....Information Failure....
According to Naik, the intense sweetness of Coca-Cola as a result of its high sugar content should make us vomit as soon as it enters the body. However, the phosphoric acid in the beverage dulls the sweetness, enabling us to keep the drink down.
Consequences of Environmental Change
How will climate change affect you? Your community? The environment around you?
Global climate change will affect people and the environment in many ways. Some of these impacts, like stronger hurricanes and severe heat waves, could be life threatening. Others, like spreading weeds, will be less serious. And some effects, like longer growing seasons for crops, might even be good! However, as the Earth keeps getting warmer, the negative effects are expected to outweigh the positive ones.The more we learn about how climate change will affect people and the environment, the more we can see why people need to take action to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. We can also take steps to prepare for the changes we know are coming.
Read more
A way forward?
Effects on Europe....
Mega Merger
The era of the mega-merger is well and truly here: BAT and Reynolds, tobacco giants, have agreed to merge with the former subsuming the latter.
This will create a giant tobacco firm,
with a range of brands including Rothmans and Camel, and BAT hopes to
make cost savings of $400m as a result. This implies that there are
economies of scale resulting from the merger.
The companies are aware of the fact that in the developed world, there's is a sunset industry as smoking rates are declining, and this will help protect their market position. I suspect it's only a matter of time before they move into the e-cigarette market in a big way - Camel, for example, have had fashion interests in the past.
The companies are aware of the fact that in the developed world, there's is a sunset industry as smoking rates are declining, and this will help protect their market position. I suspect it's only a matter of time before they move into the e-cigarette market in a big way - Camel, for example, have had fashion interests in the past.
Reuters on the BAT/Reynolds merger, highlighting the
'shareholder value' available. It implies that there are risk-bearing
economies of scale as well as the chance to acquire the technologies
associated with heating rather than burning tobacco.
(Source: tutor2u)
(Source: tutor2u)
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