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LePetitePoopoo t1_j2zk046 wrote

This isn’t about how many animals you eat, it’s about how many animals you can spare by not eating meat. Which is stupid because regardless of whether you buy the meat or not, every last animal on a farm is destined to be killed.

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JPAnalyst t1_j2zlkj0 wrote

This is a stupid comment. Over the long term if a significant amount of people didn’t eat meat 1 day a week, demand goes down and supply goes down - animal production would decrease therefore less animals will be bred for food and less animals will be killed for food.

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Pressed_Thumb t1_j2zrvec wrote

Your economics analysis is ignoring the price factor.

If a significant amount of people didn’t eat meat 1 day a week, demand goes down, price goes down, many people will buy more meat, demand stays more or less the same, supply stays the same.

You'd be shocked how many people would barbecue everyday if they could.

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scmrph t1_j30iw9b wrote

Yes and no, in terms of a direct demand side shock effect you are partially right, there is not a 1 to 1 reduction of consumption, but any reduction in demand will equate to a reduction in both price and net consumption, say a 50% reduction in demand leading to a 15% reduction in price and 15% reduciton in total volume consumed (numbers depend on price elasticity and shape of the supply curve)

In the long term though there is profitability to consider, sufficient reduction in demand leads to reduced profit margins (due to decreased price). This will cause suppliers to reduce production/drop out of market until marginal cost=marginal gain again. Depending on the impact of economies to scale on the production side this can drive the price back up to anywhere from somewhat below the original price to wildly above it. Either way with the rebound in price as the supply curve adjusts itself downwards to handle the new reality there will be further reductions in total volume consumed.

I dont really have a side in this debate, I eat meat but food price going down is not a bad thing and even if the meat economies collapse that will redirect fertile land production towards other crops (meat is terribly inefficient land & water-use wise, especially after considering land used to grow feed), but economics doesnt at all dictate a fixed consumption rate, reduced demand will pretty much always lead to *some* reduction in volume consumed. This holds true for any product from oil to diamonds to diapers.

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LePetitePoopoo t1_j2zmkuh wrote

No one wants to eat less meat, at least not in America. The only thing that will get a significant amount of people to stop eating meat maybe 1 day a week is the cost of meat rising.

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JPAnalyst t1_j2zovg0 wrote

Whatever your opinion is on that I don’t care. My point is, your comment about eating less meat not changing the supply and animals getting killed anyway, couldn’t be more wrong. If you want to eat meat because it’s tasty, go ahead, but don’t make up easily debunked tales.

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