Economics of Capturing Stray Cattle

A visitor to either of India's cities of New Delhi and Mumbai is wont to notice the number of freely roaming cows. It is understandable that the Hindu faith has enormous regard for the animal and has accorded it a sacred place. However, given that these animals fall easily within the province of private property, one can easily see that their owners would be given to free ride on the dispensation and bearing no cost for it. The result would be predictable: too many stray cattle in the streets.

Jeremy Khan writes here about the efforts by the city of New Delhi to capture stray animals and take them off the streets where they cause traffic problems in addition to the leaving dung on the city pavements. Interestingly, the city has responded by hiring about 165 cow catchers who are obliged to bring about 10 cows per day. Impliedly therefore, they capture 1650 cattle per day. Allowing for the mishaps and allowing for a slovenly work rate of 5 captured cows per worker, the deprtament should clear New Delhi's streets of virtually all the 32,000 stray animals within forty working days.

It is easy to see that the incentives borne by the catchers is inconsistent with this rate of work because the clearance of the cows from the streets would render them without jobs. No wonder the story reports that a number of cows have been caught multiple times. It is clear that the city of New Delhi has designed the incentives around the removal of the stray animals poorly.