The Free Organ Market
Some economists have suggested adjusting the supply-and-demand problem through market incentives. Instead of asking people to donate their organs, why not just pay for them?
What if it worked like this: while you’re healthy, you volunteer your kidneys. Then when you die, and the kidneys are removed, your family would be compensated for your funeral expenses. That doesn’t seem quite so outrageous, does it? Gary Becker, the Nobel laureate who teaches economics at the University of Chicago, has proposed something even more radical: paying people to part with their organs now, while they are still using them. You’ve got two kidneys but you can get by with one. You’ve got only one liver but you don’t really need that meaty chunk at the end. How does $30,000 sound?
