Since we have done a lot of work for organ donation over the last eight years, I found the following to be quite interesting. Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, authors of “Freakonomics,” wrote an interesting piece for the NYT recently about people selling their organs – for profit. They wrote that it’s hard to find an economist who agrees with the current way organs are doled out. They point out that the notion of a living donor selling an organ, most likely a kidney, is repugnant to most people. Yet few people are repulsed by life insurance, the business of one person betting on the chances of another person dying in a certain amount of time. The concept of life insurance was repugnant until the mid-19th century (it turned death into a “vulgar commodity”). Sometime after that, however, it apparently became okay to bet on human life, so one generation’s repugnance is another generation’s profit margin. Continue reading →