Happy 2019! Why not start out the new year with a set of readings on repugnance . . . you know you want to. (They’re readings on repugnance, not repugnant readings!)
There is a piece from me, accompanied by excellent commentaries by Harvard law’s Glenn Cohen and the German philosopher, Weyma Lübbe (University of Regensburg). Sadly, all three pieces are behind a paywall.
The abstract for:
Kidneys without Money
by Kimberly D. Krawiec“Market design and matching have been especially important for markets in which the use of money is viewed as repugnant or distasteful. This article employs the example of kidney exchange, with a particular focus on a new form, global kidney exchange (GKE), to highlight the manner by which repugnance and the law limit exchange and create scarcity. Yet it also opens the door to innovation that, at each stage of market development, prompts new repugnance concerns and initiates a renegotiation of legal rules, social norms, and institutional barriers.”
And . . . a taste from the text:
“Repugnance influences which animals are food and which are pets, marks the limits of art and entertainment, and dictates who is eligible to marry. Importantly, repugnance is also associated with a strong resistance to the commercial exchange of certain goods and services. This aversion limits the types of transactions one sees in the marketplace and carries serious consequences for market design and regulation. Yet, as compared to the more well-known causes of market failure, scholars of economics and of law have spent less time addressing the role of repugnance in market design and regulation. Indeed, as noted by Roth (2007) and Healy and Krawiec (2017a), until fairly recently, the standard economic response to repugnance was to treat it as simply an irrational preference to be overcome with rational arguments and evidence.”
And, check out the accompanying excellent commentaries (no abstracts):
I. Glenn Cohen
On Repugnance, Distribution, and the Global Kidney Exchange
DOI: 10.1628/jite-2019-0004
Weyma Lübbe
Understanding (One’s Own) Repugnances
DOI: 10.1628/jite-2019-0005