WELFARE EFFECTS OF THE NATIONAL PSEUDORABIES ERADICATION PROGRAM

A welfare methodology is adapted to evaluate market and distributional effects of a completed pseudorabies eradication effort in the U.S. The model predicts small market effects from pseudorabies eradication. Welfare analysis suggests that, in states generating relatively large hog numbers, producers will experience a net gain from eradication in all scenarios considered, vet in smaller hog producing areas individual hog operations may lose producer surplus. Consumer surplus changes vary by scenario but are always positive. In general, the national pseudorabies eradication program is shown to be economically efficient.