Laissez-Fairre Livers

A Dutch Television Network intends to broadcast a reality television show whereby contestants will vie for the organs of a terminally ill woman.

This is ultra tacky, but it got me thinking.

In college, I was involved in a group project examining the economics of organ donation. Centering organ transplants around a donation-only system is the economic equivalent of a price ceiling; it just so happens that the price being ceilinged is zero.

A great example of a price ceiling is rent controls. Common in some urban areas, a rent control stipulates the maximum price that an owner can charge for a given apartment. The advantage of a price ceiling is, of course, a low price, theoretically affordable for a larger number of people. The huge disadvantage is a gap between the number of willing consumers at market price and the number of willing suppliers at market price – a shortage.

So, what do we have in the organ donation ‘market?’ A huge shortage of ‘suppliers’ (donors) relative to the demanders (those in need of organs).

Let me be clear, organ donation is really awesome. I’ve signed the back of my license, I hope you have too. But there is really very little doubt that the number of people whose lives could be saved by organ transplants is larger if it weren’t limited to donation.

I’m proposing a market for the transaction of organs.

The chief argument against free-market organs will be the inevitable inequality between organ sellers and organ buyers. Undoubtedly, buyers would predominantly come from a wealthier background, while sellers may only be doing so out of financial desperation due to being lower on the ladder.

I doubt that long-term the gap would be any more predominant than public education, which has been sold to me as equal (it’s not). But even if it weren’t, consider the options we have before us…

A.) Potentially saving the lives of x people, who happen to be directly slanted upward toward the higher end of the socioeconomic ladder.

B.) The status quo, saving the lives of a fraction of x people, who happen to be randomly sorted along the same ladder.

I can understand the pursuit of equal access to housing, education, and healthcare. But if we’re talking about actual lives, do we not have an obligation to create an environment in which the most possible can be saved?