2nd Edition

Markets without Limits Moral Virtues and Commercial Interests

By Jason F. Brennan, Peter Jaworski Copyright 2022
362 Pages
by Routledge

362 Pages
by Routledge

362 Pages
by Routledge

May you sell your spare kidney? May gay men pay surrogates to bear them children? Should we allow betting markets on terrorist attacks and natural disasters? May spouses pay each other to do the dishes, watch the kids, or have sex? Should we allow the rich to genetically engineer gifted, beautiful children? May you ever sell your vote? Most people—and many philosophers—shudder at these... Read more

Part I: Should Everything Be for Sale?

1. Are There Some Things Money Should Not Buy?

2. If You May Do It for Free, You May Do It for Money

3. A Taxonomy of Possible Objections

4. It’s the How, Not the What

Part II: Do Markets Signal Disrespect?

5. Semiotic Objections

6. The Mere Commodity Objection

7. The Wrong Signal and Wrong Currency Objections

8. Objections: Semiotic Essentialism, Minding Our Manners, and What It Says When You Buy Love

Part III: Do Markets Corrupt?

9. The Corruption Objection

10. How to Make a Sound Corruption Objection

11. The Selfishness Objection

12. The Crowding Out Objection

13. The Surprising Truth about Blood Markets: How Paying for Blood Crowds In Altruism

14. The Immoral Preference Objection

15. The Low Quality Objection

16. The Civics Objection

Part IV: The Other Big Objections

17. Objections Solved by Market Design

18. Exploitation, Sweatshops, and the Living Wage

19. Consent, Desperation, and Coercion

20. Line Up for Expensive Equality!

21. Baby Buying: Adoption Rights and Designer Babies

22. Selling Civics: Vote Markets and Citizenship

23. Blackmail, Threats, and What We Owe to Each Other for Free

24. Associative Objections: Should We Boycott More People?

Part V: Debunking Intuitions

25. Anti-Market Attitudes Are Resilient

26. Dignity, Schmignity

27. Where Do Anti-Market Attitudes Come From?

28. The Pseudo-Morality of Disgust

29. Postscript

Biography

Jason Brennan is the Flanagan Family Professor of Ethics, Economics, and Public Policy at Georgetown University. He is the author of 15 books, including Debating Democracy (2021), Why It’s OK to Want to Be Rich (2020), Cracks in the Ivory Tower (2019), and When All Else Fails (2018). 

Peter Jaworski  is an Associate Teaching Professor at Georgetown University, teaching Ethical Values of Business to undergraduates and Ethical Leadership to MBAs and Executive MBAs. He was a Visiting Research Professor at Brown University, a Visiting Assistant Professor at the College of Wooster, and an Instructor at Bowling Green State University.