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Viewpoint: Regulating meat consumption to improve health, the environment and animal welfare

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  • Bonnet, Céline
  • Bouamra-Mechemache, Zohra
  • Réquillart, Vincent
  • Treich, Nicolas

Abstract

Meat consumption has increased significantly in the last 50 years. This trend raises various health and environmental issues, as well as moral concerns regarding farm animal welfare. In this paper, we discuss the regulation of meat consumption in developed countries. Specifically, we discuss possible justifications for this regulation in terms of environmental, health and animal welfare considerations, as well as the effect of fiscal, informational and behavioral regulatory instruments. Finally, we present a list of challenges that policy makers and food scholars may need to confront in the future.

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  • Bonnet, Céline & Bouamra-Mechemache, Zohra & Réquillart, Vincent & Treich, Nicolas, 2020. "Viewpoint: Regulating meat consumption to improve health, the environment and animal welfare," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:97:y:2020:i:c:s0306919220300312
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101847
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Meat consumption; Regulation; Health; Environment; Climate change; Animal welfare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q11 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis; Prices
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household

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