Something interesting

The guys over at Marginal Revolution have a brief, but I think well reasoned, post on the "repugnance" of selling organs for transplant. I know it's got to be more complicated, but it really does seem hard to justify continuing a policy that results in "[l]etting thousands of people die while organs that could have saved their lives were buried and burned."

I think you can craft a well-reasoned argument against selling organs -- perverse incentives for hospitals, a rise in "organ mugging", etc. -- but what strikes me is that most of the objections I know of tend to come off as very paternalistic. For example, one commenter says, "I don't like the idea of [poor] people feeling obligated to sell their organs." This argument irks me for at least two reasons, but I have to go help my boss with a task right now and I figure I'll forget to post if I save it for later.