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Delaying Cattle Slaughter: Dynamic Efficiency and Transition under Minimum Age Rules

Author

Listed:
  • Sosa Raúl Alberto
  • Vazquez Franco Martín

Abstract

Minimum slaughter-age (or weight) rules delay harvest rather than tax quantities. We develop a continuous-time model of cattle as biological capital that maps slaughter age into harvest flow through a decreasing harvest fraction. The model yields closed-form steady states with and without a binding floor and characterizes the optimal transition after repeal. A binding floor necessarily enlarges the herd and lowers the marginal value of stock; long-run beef supply is non-monotone in the tightness of the floor—moderate floors can raise throughput, while strict floors reduce it. Repeal generates an immediate slaughter surge and monotone convergence back to the interior allocation. The framework is robust to preferences, biological growth, age-specific survival, and holding costs, and it delivers a simple sufficient-statistic measure of the policy’s dynamic efficiency cost.

Suggested Citation

  • Sosa Raúl Alberto & Vazquez Franco Martín, 2025. "Delaying Cattle Slaughter: Dynamic Efficiency and Transition under Minimum Age Rules," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4840, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    • Handle: RePEc:aep:anales:4840
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Randal R. Rucker & Oscar R. Burt & Jeffrey T. LaFrance, 1984. "An Econometric Model of Cattle Inventories," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 66(2), pages 131-144.
    2. James N. Trapp, 1986. "Investment and Disinvestment Principles with Nonconstant Prices and Varying Firm Size Applied to Beef-Breeding Herds," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 68(3), pages 691-703.
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    JEL classification:

    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

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