Two Essays on Stated Choice Analysis of Demand for Eggs from Enhanced Animal Welfare Production Systems
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This thesis measures consumer preference and willingness to pay for enhanced animal welfare using eggs. In order to investigate consumer preferences for enhanced animal welfare, two stated choice experiments are used to address consumers’ choices from eight combinations of enhanced animal welfare attributes. Within each experiment, two treatments are applied to explore the role of additional information on consumer choices. A conditional logit model is employed to analyze data from a nation wide survey. In the first essay, the results show regional heterogeneity in Canadian consumer preferences for eggs from alternative housing systems. In the second essay, results show heterogeneity in consumer preferences for organizations that verify housing systems, using trust as the means of differentiating segments of consumer. The findings of the thesis provide information to the Canadian egg industry regarding the implications arising from improvement in hen welfare, and possible economic benefits arising from changes in hen housing