Ilya Somin's strongest point, of course is this: Where's the harm? Compare the two states of the world, one where sales are allowed and the other where they are prohibited. Who is better off under prohibition? To favor prohibition you have to answer "the society," since no individual is better off.He of course neglects the correct answer: The individuals in government, and those who feel they are voting compassionately. Regardless...this explains methodological individualism rather well...
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Methodological Individualism explained
Mike Munger on Ilya Somin on Selling Kidneys:
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2 comments:
I think I can, as a thought experiment, come up with a story in which an individual is harmed.
Once upon a time, there was a little girl, whose parents beat her, and who was oppressed by the socio-econo-sexual-religious structure in which she was born. As she grew up, she suffered terribly and retreated into the only defense she could find, the world of drugs.
Then, one day, she turned 18. At this point her parents threw her out of the house, and left her without any money to buy food or drugs.
Then along came a nice man who:
a)Offered her $20 000 dollars for her kidney. Unable to see any other way to go, she accepted, lost a kidney, and blew the money in a 6 month orgy of drugs and parties, before finding herself exactly where she was, but less healthy. This time, unable to get any easy cash, she was forced to undergo the horrible humiliation that she had been avoiding for so long. She got a job. Years later, she was off the drugs, had become successful in her career as a telephone sanitizer, and regretted losing her kidney very much.
b)Offered her nothing for her kidney, because it was against the law. Unable to see any other way to go, she was forced to undergo the horrible humiliation that she had been avoiding for so long. She got a job. Years later, she was off the drugs, had become successful in her career as a telephone sanitizer, and was very lucky that she had two healthy kidneys.
It comes down to a basic point about being an adult. Modern society has chosen the 18th birthday as a hard and fast line for many things, (except the USA which has drinking laws and stuff that break this rule. But who understands them?) But we can all point to people who are over this hard line, (sometimes by decades) who are still not "responsible adults" and hence who probably need protection from themselves.
However, we, as a society, are not prepared to identify who those non-adults are.
(See: Sophisticated Investor regulations, which are a limited attempt to do this in the financial field.)
The comments in the linked article dwelt on some of drpat's issues: does the market price of a kidney encapsulate all the costs?
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