What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets

Sandel states that there are some things that money self-evidently should not buy, like friends or the Nobel Prize. The good of these things is negated by the fact that they are purchased.

On the other hand, some things can be bought without their inherent worth being affected, but shouldn’t. Some suggest that a market for babies would create more efficiency in enabling adoption than adoption agencies, but most believe that this is ethically immoral.

A Japanese company hires out articulate individuals to deliver apologies. An online company ghostwrites wedding speeches for individuals. These things become less meaningful if they are outsourced and paid for.

Gifts are inefficient from an economic perspective, as the gift receiver usually has a more accurate idea of what they want than the gift giver. The fact that there is a social taboo against giving cash reveals the fact that gifts are meant as a luxury, rather than utilitarian, item.