What Money Can't Buy

The years leading up to the financial crisis of 2008 were a heady time of market faith and deregulation—an era of market triumphalism.

The years leading up to the financial crisis of 2008 were a heady time of market faith and deregulation—an era of market triumphalism. Market expansion. Over the past few decades, market thinking and market mechanisms have reached into spheres of life traditionally governed by nonmarket norms. We see this in the proliferation of for-profit schools, hospitals, and prisons; the outsourcing of war to private military contractors; and the aggressive marketing of prescription drugs. Other examples include: Selling the right to immigrate to the U.S. for $500,000 Paying people to lose weight or quit smoking Buying and selling the right to pollute Corporate-sponsored education materials in public schools Selling naming rights to parks and civic spaces Outsourcing pregnancy to surrogate mothers in developing countries This trend reflects a growing faith in markets as the primary means for achieving the public good. However, it raises questions about whether there are some things money should not buy.

A peasant may agree to sell his kidney or cornea to feed his starving family, but his agreement may not really be voluntary. Coercive choices. The fairness objection to certain markets points to the injustice that can arise when people buy and sell things under conditions of severe inequality or economic desperation. Some examples that raise fairness concerns: Selling kidneys or other organs Paying drug addicts to be sterilized Selling babies for adoption Low-income people serving as surrogate mothers for wealthy couples The argument is that such "choices" may not be truly voluntary if people are acting out of economic necessity. Market choices are only truly free if there is a level playing field and people are not coerced by poverty or unequal bargaining power.

Paying kids to read books might get them to read more, but also teach them to regard reading as a chore rather than a source of intrinsic satisfaction. Degrading effects. The corruption objection argues that valuing certain goods in market terms can diminish or corrupt their moral worth. This applies even under conditions of equality. Examples of potentially corrupting markets: Paid blood donation Prostitution Selling votes Buying college admission Paying students for good grades The concern is that buying and selling these goods may change their meaning and crowd out nonmarket values and norms worth caring about. For instance, a market in children may erode the norm of unconditional parental love.

Sometimes, offering payment for a certain behavior gets you less of it, not more. Backfire effects. Contrary to standard economic logic, studies have shown that financial incentives can sometimes reduce desired behavior by crowding out moral and…