ABSTRACT

The Voiceless Animal Cruelty Index (VACI) calculates three indices for deliberate or willfully ignorant animal mistreatment in 50 countries with high agricultural output. These are animal slaughter (Producing Cruelty), animal consumption (Enabling Cruelty), and laws protecting farmed animals (Sanctioning Cruelty). The rankings of Producing, Enabling and Sanctioning Cruelty are combined to form the final VACI rank. Weighted values for animals slaughtered and numbers of animals consumed, and the overall VACI rank showed a Kuznets effect with per capita Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The inflection point was between $26 and $42K. Sanctioning Cruelty declined significantly in a linear fashion as PPP increased but did not show a Kuznets effect. Weighted numbers of animals consumed and overall VACI rank both increased with increasing income inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient), for the 16 countries with the highest per capita PPP. This confirms other studies showing societal improvements in developed countries with higher equality. This is the first instance where slaughter or consumption of animals has shown an animal welfare Kuznets curve with an inflection point within the normal PPP range, where time series data was not used.

摘要

无声动物虐待指数 (VACI) 计算了 50 个农业产出高的国家故意或故意无知虐待动物的三个指数。它们是动物屠宰（生产残忍）、动物消费（允许残忍）和保护养殖动物的法律（制裁残忍）。生产、启用和制裁残忍的排名结合起来形成最终的 VACI 排名。屠宰动物的加权值和消耗的动物数量，以及总体 VACI 排名显示出人均购买力平价 (PPP) 的库兹涅茨效应。拐点在 26 美元到 42,000 美元之间。随着 PPP 的增加，制裁残忍以线性方式显着下降，但没有表现出库兹涅茨效应。在人均购买力平价最高的 16 个国家中，消耗的动物加权数量和总体 VACI 排名都随着收入不平等（以基尼系数衡量）的增加而增加。这证实了其他研究表明，发达国家的社会改善程度更高。这是屠宰或动物消费显示出动物福利库兹涅茨曲线的第一个例子，拐点在正常 PPP 范围内，其中没有使用时间序列数据。