Animal Quality-Adjusted Life Year -AQALY

Abstract

In this paper, we define a method for computing animal welfare scores that can be used in cost-benefit analyses. Our approach takes into account both the quality and the quantity of animal lives, as has previously been done for humans-for example, with the QALY scoring system. We consider animal welfare to be composed of the mental states experienced by an animal as resulting from its living conditions across four physical domains (nutrition, health, environment, behavioral interactions) and create assessment tables to evaluate an animal's welfare in each dimension, accounting for both positive and negative experiences. We then present an aggregation method to compute an animal quality-adjusted life years (AQALY) score for cost-benefit analysis. We calibrate the resulting scoring rule by designing a discrete choice experiment and collecting data both from a representative sample of the UK population (N=972) and a sample of experts in animal welfare (N=120). Finally, we describe some applications to show how our method can be used to quantify and monetize the welfare impact of various interventions on animal lives.

Keywords: Animal welfare, benefit-cost analysis, cost-efficiency analysis, quality of life, quantity of life, Five Domains

JEL Classification: D61, Q18, I31, I1