Repugnance

About this Episode

Kim Krawiec rejoins us to discuss "repugnant" transactions. One common target of this adjective is trade in human body parts. While on the one hand making more matching kidneys available saves lives and prevents large amounts of suffering, on the other hand revulsion and concerns about coercion and distributive fairness arise when kidneys are bought and paid for. In recent years, a number of innovative market designs have allowed strangers to exchange kidneys without engaging in impersonal, commodified market transactions. And now there have been several global examples of such exchanges, transferring not only kidneys but also the resources needed to perform transplants in poor countries. But are these alternative designs still "markets," and what exactly is our problem with markets in kidneys anyway?

• Kim Krawiec’s faculty profile, writing, and website
• Oral Argument 17: Flesh List (guest Kim Krawiec)
• Kimberly Krawiec, Kidneys Without Money (a landing page for this article and responses by Glenn Cohen and Weyma Lübbe)
• Kieran Healy, Last Best Gifts
• Kieran Healy and Kimberly Krawiec, Repugnance Management and Transactions in the Body
• Philip Cook and Kimberly Krawiec, If We Allow Football Players and Boxers to Be Paid for Entertaining the Public, Why Don’t We Allow Kidney Donors to Be Paid for Saving Lives?
• Philip Cook and Kimberly Krawiec, A Primer on Kidney Transplantation: Anatomy of the Shortage