Markets without limits : moral virtues and commercial interests / Jason Brennan and Peter M. Jaworski.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brennan, Jason, 1979- author.

Jaworski, Peter, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Exchange--Moral and ethical aspects.

Exchange.

Economics--Moral and ethical aspects.

Economics.

Value--Philosophy.

Value.

Markets--Social aspects.

Markets.

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

xi, 239 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY ; Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, 2016.

Summary:

May you sell your vote? May you sell your kidney? May gay men pay surrogates to bear them children? May spouses pay each other to watch the kids, do the dishes, or have sex? Should we allow the rich to genetically engineer gifted, beautiful children? Should we allow betting markets on terrorist attacks and natural disasters? Most people shudder at the thought. To put some goods and services for sale offends human dignity. If everything is commodified, then nothing is sacred. The market corrodes our character. Or so most people say. In Markets without Limits, Jason Brennan and Peter Jaworski give markets a fair hearing. The market does not introduce wrongness where there was not any previously. Thus, the authors claim, the question of what rightfully may be bought and sold has a simple answer: if you may do it for free, you may do it for money. Contrary to the conservative consensus, they claim there are no inherent limits to what can be bought and sold, but only restrictions on how we buy and sell. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Should everything be for sale? 1

1 Are there some things money should not buy? 3

2 If you may do it for free, you may do it for money 10

3 What the commodification debate is and is not about 19

4 It's the how, not the what 29

Part II Do markets signal disrespect? 43

5 Semiotc objections 45

6 The mere commodity objection 51

7 The wrong signal and wrong currency objections 60

8 Objections: semiotic essentialism and minding our manners 75

Part III Do markets corrupt? 85

9 The corruption objection 87

10 How to make a sound corruption objection 90

11 The selfishness objection 96

12 The crowding out objection 104

13 The immoral preference objection 120

14 The low quality objection 128

15 The civics objection 139

Part IV Exploitation, harm to self, and misallocation 145

16 Essential and incidental objections 147

17 Line up for expensive equality! 158

18 Baby buying 169

19 Vote selling 183

Part V Debunking intuitions 195

20 Anti-market attitudes are resilient 197

21 Where do anti-market attitudes come from? 201

22 The pseudo-morality of disgust 209

23 Postscript 224.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415737340

0415737346

9780415737357

0415737354

OCLC:

906027823