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Of the bovine ilk: Quantifying the welfare of dairy cattle in history, 1750-1900

Author

Listed:
  • Markus Lampe

    (Vienna University of Economics & Business, CEPR)

  • Paul Sharp

    (University of Southern Denmark, CAGE, CEPR)

Abstract

We seek to understand the welfare of dairy cattle in Denmark from 1750 to 1900, a period marked by significant agricultural development and industrialization. By applying contemporary animal welfare metrics to historical data, we uncover a detailed picture of how bovine welfare evolved. Our findings reveal a complex pattern of both improvements and declines in welfare over time, influenced by changes in farming practices such as feeding, housing, and health management. Our work contributes to a deeper understanding of the nexus of economic progress and animal welfare, highlighting the historical complexities of agricultural practices and their impact on animal welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2024. "Of the bovine ilk: Quantifying the welfare of dairy cattle in history, 1750-1900," Working Papers 0257, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    • Handle: RePEc:hes:wpaper:0257
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    File URL: https://www.ehes.org/wp/EHES_257.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sofia Teives Henriques & Paul Sharp, 2016. "The Danish agricultural revolution in an energy perspective: a case of development with few domestic energy sources," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(3), pages 844-869, August.
    2. Ingrid Henriksen & Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2012. "The strange birth of liberal Denmark: Danish trade protection and the growth of the dairy industry since the mid‐nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 65(2), pages 770-788, May.
    3. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2014. "Greasing the wheels of rural transformation? Margarine and the competition for the British butter market," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(3), pages 769-792, August.
    4. Broadberry,Stephen & Campbell,Bruce M. S. & Klein,Alexander & Overton,Mark & van Leeuwen,Bas, 2015. "British Economic Growth, 1270–1870," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107070783, November.
    5. Nina Boberg-Fazlic & Peter Sandholt Jensen & Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp & Christian Volmar Skovsgaard, 2023. "‘Getting to Denmark’: the role of agricultural elites for development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 525-569, December.
    6. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2015. "How the Danes discovered Britain: the international integration of the Danish dairy industry before 1880," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 19(4), pages 432-453.
    7. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2019. "Accounting for the wealth of Denmark: a case study of Smithian growth using the emergence of modern accounting in Danish dairying," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 659-697, July.
    8. Robert C. Allen, 2017. "Absolute Poverty: When Necessity Displaces Desire," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(12), pages 3690-3721, December.
    9. Boberg-Fazlić, Nina & Lampe, Markus & Martinelli Lasheras, Pablo & Sharp, Paul, 2022. "Winners and losers from agrarian reform: Evidence from Danish land inequality 1682–1895," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    10. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2017. "A quest for useful knowledge: the early development of agricultural accounting in Denmark and Northern Germany," Accounting History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 73-99, January.
    11. Markus Lampe & Paul Sharp, 2015. "Just add milk: a productivity analysis of the revolutionary changes in nineteenth-century Danish dairying," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(4), pages 1132-1153, November.
    12. Kathryn Gary & Peter Sandholt Jensen & Mats Olsson & Cristina Victoria Radu & Battista Severgnini & Paul Sharp, 2022. "Monopsony Power and Wages: Evidence from the Introduction of Serfdom in Denmark," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(648), pages 2835-2872.
    13. Elena S. Korchmina & Paul Sharp, 2020. "Denmark and Russia: What can we learn from the historical comparison of two great Arctic agricultural empires?," Russian Journal of Economics, ARPHA Platform, vol. 7(2), pages 105-118, July.
    14. Ingrid Henriksen & Kevin H. O'Rourke, 2005. "Incentives, technology and the shift to year‐round dairying in late nineteenth‐century Denmark," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 58(3), pages 520-554, August.
    15. Robert C. Allen, 2017. "Absolute Poverty: When Necessity Displaces Desire REVISED," Working Papers 20170005, New York University Abu Dhabi, Department of Social Science, revised Jun 2017.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Animal welfare; cattle; dairying; Denmark;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N53 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N54 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: 1913-
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

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