David L. Weimer & Aidan R. Vining Dog Economics: Perspectives on Our Canine Relationships Cambridge University Press 216 pages, 6 x 9 inches ISBN 9781009445504
Aidan R. Vining
On Dog Economics: Perspectives on Our Canine Relationships
Interview of
November 20, 2025
In a nutshell
People and dogs share thousands of years of co-evolution. The nature of their relationship has also evolved, moving largely from dogs as workmates to dogs as pets. Especially in contemporary American society, dogs have the unique status as both commodities and family members. Dogs can be bought and sold, yet people in a large majority of the roughly half of U.S. households with dogs consider them to be family members. Pet dogs confer great happiness on their keepers. They provide companionship, contribute to social capital, and encourage healthier lifestyles. Yet they require expenditures of time and money for their care. They may also affect living arrangements, schedule and travel flexibility, injury risk, and even the choice of romantic partners. All dog keepers will recognize these advantages and disadvantages of our canine relationships. What does social science research tell us about these relationships? To what extent does economic theory help us understand these relationships?
In Dog Economics, we sought to answer these questions in ways that are interesting to both dog lovers and social scientists. For dog lovers, we draw on research done by veterinarians, biologists, anthropologists, psychologists, historians, legal scholars, philosophers, and even a few economists to explore what we know about dogs and our relationships with them. We interpret this diverse research from an economic perspective. As we assume readers have no background in economics, we provide a glossary of economic terms, avoid mathematical treatment, and provide a small number of well-explained graphs. We believe our book introduces economics in a more engaging way than the typical introductory college course in economics––dogs are much more interesting than widgets!
For economists, we show how economic theory can help us better organize and interpret the growing body of social science research on our canine relationships. We draw on both neoclassical economics, which assumes that consumers do not make mistakes, and behavioral economics, which shows various ways that consumers do systematically make them. We hope to stimulate more research by economists on the human-canine relationship. We also hope canine researchers in other disciplines find the economic concepts we introduce helpful.
If you are fond of dogs and open to learning about what social science can tell us about our canine relationships, then you should enjoy Dog Economics.
Ming in Prairie Moraine Dog Park, Verona, Wisconsin
The wide angle
We are fond of dogs. Although it would be a bit of a stretch to say that we are also fond of economics, we certainly appreciate its usefulness in understanding social interaction and informing good public policy. It was the application of economics in public policy that led us to write this book.
In 2007, thousands of pet dogs and cats in the United States died from consuming pet food with an adulterated ingredient imported from China. Congress responded by giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate the quality of pet food. At a professional meeting, the Chief Economist at the FDA complained to one of us that doing the cost-benefit analysis required to support FDA regulations of pet food was hampered because the existing research did not provide a way to monetize avoided pet deaths, the very objective of the regulation.
Regulators routinely value avoided human deaths with the value of statistical life (about $10 million), which estimates the implicit value people on average place on their own life when evaluating small changes to their mortality risk, such as in accepting riskier jobs for higher wages. Although we cannot know how dogs value changes in their own mortality risk, we can consider the implicit value their keepers place on their lives when they make decisions that affect their dogs’ mortality risks. In 2018, one of us organized a team to do a survey experiment in which a sample of dog owners were confronted with a hypothetical situation offering them the opportunity to purchase a vaccine to reduce the mortality risk their pet dogs faced from canine influenza. The responses of the dog owners allowed us to estimate that the value of statistical dog life in the United States was about $10 thousand (about $13 thousand in current dollars). Dog lovers may certainly think this amount is too low! However, it is important to remember that this amount applies to reductions in risk––if our pooch is facing imminent death, many of us would pay much more to save her, yet we do not necessarily take all the precautions we could to reduce mortality risk before a threat to life occurs.
The article reporting these results received considerable media attention. An editor suggested we build a book around it. In view of our fondness for dogs, we thought doing so would be fun. Indeed, it was.
A close-up
Each chapter offers interesting research findings interpreted from an economic perspective. “Chasing the Tale” reviews what evolutionary biology tells us about the transformation of wolves into dogs. It also considers how our ancestors’ relationships with dogs involved our cooperation with them in hunting and then herding.
“Love Me, Love My Dog” considers factors driving demand for dogs as pets, including the role of fads in the choice of breeds, and how these pets have come to be viewed as family members. It also interprets the increased demand for dogs during the pandemic as both a substitute for lost human companionship and the reduced opportunity costs of keeping them.
“How Much Is That Doggy in the Window” considers the supply of puppies from a diverse industry ranging from backyard breeders to abhorrent puppy mills. It explains how market failures lead to the euthanasia of almost 400 thousand dogs each year in U.S. shelters.
“You Bet Your (Dog’s) Life” explains the survey experiment used to estimate the value of statistical dog life that originally motivated Dog Economics. It considers the potential uses of this estimate, such as in determining compensation for the wrongful death of dogs and the awarding of custody of dogs in divorce settlements.
“A Doggone Shame” addresses the reality that dogs have shorter lifespans than humans––most dog keepers will have to confront the end of life of their pets. It assesses changes in small animal veterinary practice resulting from the growing market for pet insurance. It also reviews the changing norms governing the treatment of dogs in medical research.
“Working for the Man” returns to the role of dogs in production. Dogs enjoy some absolute comparative advantages relative to humans and their machines, especially related to their olfactory capabilities, or they can also do service because of their relative comparative advantage. This chapter looks closely at the economics of service dogs and the controversy over the rules governing the treatment of emotional support animals by airlines.
The concluding chapter, entitled “Dogonomics,” considers how public policies can better address contemporary concerns about the treatment of dogs as well as emerging issues, such as the regulation of cloned and designer dogs, that will demand attention in the future.
Lastly
Many people share our love of dogs. Economics cannot explain this love. Nonetheless, we hope our book helps dog lovers better understand the nitty-gritty of their relationships with these wonderful animals.
We confess to what might be called “dog exceptionalism,” viewing the relationship between humans and dogs as special. Nonetheless, we would welcome a companion book on cat economics!
