Michael Munger on Exchange, Exploitation and Euvoluntary Transactions
EconTalk
00:00
Why Is Blackmail Outlawed?
A man in China sold his kidney for $3,000. His mother asked him where he got the money; he was kind of sleepy. So why is that like blackmail? There's no problem with you giving it to my wife. She wants it. But there's a transaction that makes both of us better off instead of that bad thing. And that transaction is outlawed. We want to keep these outside the commercial sphere. The question is why? Of course, we sell our time. We sell our labor, which is clearly something bodily. I think most people, when they just get a Kidney donation, they just go yuck. It ruins human dignity.
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