[lbo-talk] Nobel Prize in Economics Gary Becker advocating free market trading of transplant organs

joanna 123hop at comcast.net
Sun Jan 8 10:38:01 PST 2006


Perhaps this is the reason why Swift's "Modest Proposal" (to sell Irish babies for food) was taken to be a real plan rather than a piece of irony.

Joanna

ulisse mangialaio wrote:


> recently posted on the Becker-Posner blog,
> www.becker-posner-blog.com:
>
> "Another set of critics agree with me that the effect
> on the total supply of organs from allowing them to be
> purchased and sold would be large and positive, but
> they object to markets because of a belief that the
> commercially-motivated part of the organ supply would
> mainly come from the poor. In effect, they believe the
> poor would be induced to sell their organs to the
> middle classes and the rich. It is hard to see any
> reasons to complain if organs of poor persons were
> sold with their permission after they died, and the
> proceeds went as bequests to their parents or
> children. The complaints would be louder if, for
> example, mainly poor persons sold one of their kidneys
> for live kidney transplants, but why would poor donors
> be better off if this option were taken away from
> them? If so desired, a quota could be placed on the
> fraction! of organs that could be supplied by persons
> with incomes below a certain level, but would that
> improve the welfare of poor persons?
>
> ...
>
> My conclusion is that markets in organs are the best
> available way to enable persons with defective organs
> to get transplants much more quickly than under the
> present system. I do not find compelling the arguments
> against allowing the sale of organs, especially when
> weighed against the number of lives that would be
> saved by the increased supply stimulated by financial
> incentives."
>
> My comment (after Italian satyrist Daniele Luttazzi):
>
> Adolf Hitler has called a press conference in hell to
> distance himself from Becker's statements.
>
> Ulisse
>
> Chiacchiera con i tuoi amici in tempo reale!
> http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/*http://it.messenger.yahoo.com
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>

-------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20060108/20f6ab9e/attachment.htm>



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list