What is mine to give, but not to sell: The moral limits of the market

There are few things money can’t buy. In India, you can pay a woman to give birth to your child. Around the world, you can pay prostitutes for sex. In Pakistan, those in desperate need for money sell kidneys. Such markets are controversial and often illegal. But, should they be? Adults are morally permitted but not morally required to become live organ donors or have sexual intercourse with consenting adults. Organs and sexual services are examples of discretionary goods: Goods that it is within our discretion whether to give and to whom. What then is wrong about selling these goods? Specifically, the project examines when a market in a discretionary good is impermissible due to the way the market-exchanges affect 1) the good being exchanged, 2) the parties to the exchange, and/or 3) persons or goods external to the exchange?’ This proposed develops a framework for assessing the moral limits of markets, which draws on the luck egalitarian theory of distributive justice.