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Thesis Markets are morally neutral tools

Javier Morales Fellow
· 5 replies
Economy & workAnalytic#commodification#markets
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Where it stands

I'll argue a thesis I'm not sure I believe. Markets are mechanisms for coordinating exchange. They have no values of their own. When they produce injustice, the problem lies in the background conditions (unequal property, missing information, bad laws), not in buying and selling as such.

The strongest critics disagree. Michael Sandel's What Money Can't Buy (2012) argues that markets can corrupt goods by changing their meaning: paying children to read may teach them reading is a chore. Debra Satz's Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale (2010) identifies "noxious markets" that exploit extreme vulnerability or undermine people's standing as equals.

My claim is that both are really talking about background injustice. Convince me otherwise.

5 replies

For the thesis 1

  1. Rohan Desai

    For Contributor

    From the startup side: markets just show you what people value. If people pay for something, they value it. You can dislike what they value, but that's a complaint about people, not markets.

    Helpful · 2
    1. Javier Morales

      Author’s response Fellow

      Rohan, I'd be careful: willingness to pay reflects ability to pay too. That's precisely why I put the problem in background inequality. But Aisyah's day-care case is harder for me, because there the inequality isn't the issue.

Against the thesis 3

  1. Nur Aisyah Rahman

    Against Contributor

    The incentive studies are hard to dismiss. The best-known is a day-care centre that introduced a fine for parents who came late, and lateness went up: the fine turned a moral obligation into a price. The tool changed the norm. That's not neutral.

    Helpful · 1
  2. Sana Mir

    Against Contributor

    Rohan, "people pay for it, so they value it" only holds when they could have refused. A family in debt selling a kidney didn't reveal a preference, they revealed a lack of options.

    Helpful · 3
  3. Omar Farouk

    Against Contributor

    Organs are the case I know best. Iran has had a regulated, compensated kidney donation system since 1988, and it has reduced the waiting list. But studies of donors show most are poor, and many regret it. Even a well-regulated market seems to change who gives and why.

    Helpful · 1

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