The Importance of Incentives

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If you have a norm that says the right thing to do is to give up your kidney for a friend, i salute virginia postrell. I just think that monetary incentives are not much different than non monetary incentives. There isn't a sense of higher calling to make, you know, to getting more and that's what worries me about the heavy weight on incentives in our r culture.

Author, economist, and theologian Mary Hirschfeld of Villanova University talks about her book, Aquinas and the Market, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Hirschfeld looks at the nature of our economic activity as buyers and sellers and whether our pursuit of economic growth and material well-being comes at a cost. She encourages a skeptical stance about the ability of more stuff to produce true happiness and/or satisfaction. The conversation includes a critique of economic theory and the aspect of human satisfaction outside the domain of economists.