Repugnant market

A repugnant market is an area of commerce that is considered by society to be outside of the range of market transactions and that bringing this area into the realm of a market would be inherently immoral or uncaring. For example, many people consider a market in human organs to be a repugnant market or the ability to bet on terrorist acts in prediction market to be repugnant. Meanwhile, other people consider the lack of such markets to be even more immoral and uncaring because trade bans (e.g. in organ transplants^[1][2][3] and terrorism information^[4][5]) can create avoidable human suffering.

Examples

The repugnance of markets varies according to time and culture. Slavery is a market currently considered repugnant while for much of recorded history it was considered acceptable. Examples of markets considered repugnant at one time or place include:

• Pregnancy/early childhood
  • Abortion
  • Adoption
  • Egg donation for research purposes
  • Fetal organs and aborted fetal tissue^[6]
  • Surrogacy, legal in India and most states in the U.S. (but banned in France and Japan)^[7]
• Drugs & food
  • Advertising tobacco and alcohol
  • Alcohol
  • Cadavers
  • Illegal drug trade
  • Meat of horses or dogs in California^[8]
• Labour
  • Child labor
  • Slavery or indentured servitude
• Social status/political power
  • Citizenship and/or immigration^[9] (Investor visas such as the U.S. E-2 visa are exceptions. Several notable economists have proposed selling citizenship^[10])
  • Education^[11]
  • Lobbying
  • Military mercenaries
  • Political corruption activities, such as bribery and influence peddling
  • Vote buying^[12]
• Money/Speculation
  • Currency speculation
  • Gambling
  • Predatory lending, especially mortgage lending
  • Pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing
  • Selling short
  • Ticket touting in sports events and concerts ^[13]
  • Usury (Has never been allowed by Islam and historically in Christian countries)

Christ drives the Usurers out of the Temple, a woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder in Passionary of Christ and Antichrist.^[14]

• Economic corruption/media power
  • Payola
  • Product placement in some European countries^[15]
  • Radio spectrum^[16]
• Sex
  • Pornography (Repugnant in some countries/cultures, especially paraphiliac pornography)
  • Prostitution
• Other
  • Certain prediction markets (e.g. 'terrorism futures market')
  • Health Care^[17]
  • Organ trade and organ donation from a live donor (Turkey and the Philippines are notable exceptions^[18][19][20]}
  • Life insurance
  • Real estate in Cuba^[21]
  • Real estate broker/agent profession or flipping real estate
  • Metered parking^[22]
  • Simony

See also

• Prohibitionism
• Repugnancy costs
• Taboo
• Yuck factor

References

1. Murphy, Stephanie (2005-01-01). "I’ll Give You My Heart...". Retrieved 2008-07-08.
2. Kaserman, David (2002-05-16). "The AMA’s Opposition to Organ Markets: Time for a Change". Retrieved 2008-07-08.
3. "Audience Chooses Market Solution to Organ Shortage in Final Intelligence Squared U.S. Debate of the Season". Market Wire. May 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
4. Looney, Robert (September 2003). "DARPA's Policy Analysis Market for Intelligence: Outside the Box or Off the Wall?". Strategic Insights II. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
5. Hanson, Robin (July 2007). "The Policy Analysis Market A Thwarted Experiment in the Use of Prediction Markets for Public Policy". MIT Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization. 2 (3): 73. doi:10.1162/itgg.2007.2.3.73. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
6. Are we ready for a market in fetal organs?
7. Gentleman, A (2008-03-10). "India Nurtures Business of Surrogate Motherhood". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
8. Roth, AE (2007). "Repugnance as a Constraint on Markets" (pdf). Journal of Economic Perspectives 21 (3): 37–58. doi:10.1257/jep.21.3.37. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
9. Freeman, RB (2006-06-01). "People Flows in Globalization". NBER Working Paper. 12315. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
10. Houlihan, Patricia (2008-06-07). "Citizenship for Sale?". Chicago GSB Magazine. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
11. "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 26".
12. Schaffer, FC; Schedler A (2005-11-28). "What is Vote Buying? The Limits of the Market Model" (PDF). Stanford University, Department of Political Science. Archived from the original (pdf) on 2008-02-29. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
13. "Ticket Scalping: A Repugnant Transaction". 2012.
14. The references cited in the Passionary for this woodcut: 1 John 2:14-16, Matthew 10:8, and The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article 8, Of the Church
15. "In the picture". The Economist. 2007-11-01. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
16. Hazlett, T (2009-12-16). "Ronald Coase and the radio spectrum". The Financial Times. Retrieved 2009-12-17.
17. "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 25".
18. Satel, S (2007-12-16). "Desperately Seeking a Kidney". The New York Times. (subscription only)
19. Hippen, BE (2008-03-20). "Organ Sales and Moral Travails: Lessons from the Living Kidney Vendor Program in Iran". Cato Institute. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
20. Dubner, SJ (2008-04-29). "Human Organs for Sale, Legally, in ... Which Country?". The New York Times Freakonomics Blog. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
21. Lacey, M (2008-01-28). "With a Whisper, Cuba’s Housing Market Booms". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
22. Crossen, C (2007-06-30). "When Parallel Parking Was New and Meters Seemed Un-American". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-05-15.

External links

• Transcript of BBC broadcast on repugnant markets
• Google video on Market Failure and Market Design