Organ Market Ethics

It is hard to find an economist who agrees with U.S. law on organ markets. Currently it is illegal to sell your organs to another. This law means we watch tens of thousands of people needlessly die every year in the U.S. and we deny yet another avenue for the poor to find an escape. The current system blatantly favors the rich who have the networking ability to get their name to the top of the list, generating an enormous amount of inequality. Curiously, those who raise "ethical" objections to organ markets seem to get this backwards. Regardless, biochemist Stephanie Murphy at U Mass-Amherst has written a nice short essay titled "Eight Ethical Objections to an Organ Market...And Why They're Wrong."
Hat Tip to the Perfect Substitute.

Why Tastey Animals Live Forever

What is the difference between Lions, Elephants, and Tigers from Chickens, Pigs, and Dogs? The former 3 cases you aren't allowed to own and they are going extinct, the latter 3 cases you are allowed to own and have a thriving population. In class, I gave several examples of how private property rights can save endangered animals (recall Lobster Fishieries in New England vs. Port Lincoln, Australia; the Black Rhino in Africa which can also be found on page 39 in your textbook). The Wall Street Journal reports a new case with Bison, where decades of conservation regulations barely kept the species from going extinct, recently assigned private property rights to ranchers has caused the Bison population to grow dramatically over just the last few years.

My thanks to Mark Gillis for the link.