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Caring about animal welfare has psychological and economic costs. While a good deal of research has centered on topics such as compassion and empathy fatigue, there have been few detailed studies of economic aspects.1 For this and other reasons, I was thrilled to learn about Nicolas Treich's recent book, Animal Economics: Directly and Indirectly Accounting for Animal Welfare, in which he "explores the complexity of the behavioral attitude of humans toward animals using behavioral economics and explains how existing economic theory can be applied to understand animal welfare as an externality."2 Here's what he had to say about his deeply thoughtful and highly-acclaimed work.

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Animal Economics?

Nicolas Treich: Mostly because there is a gap in my discipline: economics. We usually do not talk about animals. And when we do, for instance in agricultural or environmental economics, animals are treated as food, resources, or biodiversity. That is, they are treated as things, like other inputs or commodities. We therefore ignore what is most important about them: they can feel, have emotions, and thus, can experience welfare. The book is about the economics of animal welfare.

MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of interest?

NT: My background is in decision theory, which later extended to more applied fields such as environmental economics, benefit-cost analysis, and behavioral economics. I have been working on animals for about ten years. This background helped me write a book that draws on several areas of economics relevant to the study of animals and their welfare. The book also goes beyond economics, especially into psychology and philosophy.

MB: Who do you hope to reach?

NT:........

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