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Abstract
Animal welfare activists have succeeded in
persuading egg purchasers to purchase only
eggs that are produced according to new
animal welfare guidelines. This agreement
will increase the cost of producing eggs that
are sold in the shell. To date, the guidelines do
not apply to eggs that are broken and further
processed. This agreement creates a bifurcated
market: high-cost eggs in the shell and lowcost
eggs that are processed. We conduct a
qualitative analysis of the effects on consumers
and producers from creation of this new
market structure. Restricting the movement of
low-cost eggs into the in-shell market in
periods of peak demand will increase the price
of in-shell eggs and will decrease the price of
eggs destined for processing in these periods.
Winners from adopting this restriction are
those producers who produce only for the inshell
market. Losers from this restriction are
producers who only produce for the processing
market. We are currently undertaking a
companion study that will provide estimates of
the magnitude of the gains and losses from
this new market structure.