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

“The services of an Indian surrogate mother to carry a pregnancy: $6,250. Western couples seeking surrogates increasingly outsource the job to India, where the practice is legal and the price is less than one-third the going rate in the United States.”

Michael Sandel uses the phrase “the going rate,” language traditionally associated with markets, to refer to the services of poor surrogate mothers for wealthy couples. He questions the framing of a woman’s pregnancy as a competitive, market-driven service, stressing the deep economic inequality at play in such scenarios. In a broader sense, Sandel posits that there are some things that money should not be able to buy, introducing the theme of The Immorality of Over-Commodification.

“Buy the life insurance policy of an ailing or elderly person, pay the annual premiums while the person is alive, and then collect the death benefit when he or she dies: potentially, millions (depending on the policy). This form of betting on the lives of strangers has become a $30 billion industry. The sooner the stranger dies, the more the investor makes.”

Sandel represents the death of a stranger as a potential money-making enterprise through life insurance schemes. His implicit condemnation of the practice is clear; he questions why a human life could be reduced to an investment, speaking to The Immorality of Over-Commodification.

“Over the past three decades, markets—and market values—have come to govern our lives as never before.”

Sandel critiques the celebration of market values, as well as the assumption that markets are inherently moral and fair. He emphasizes that the infiltration of market values into every aspect of life is not inevitable, but could (and should) be challenged through discourse and debate, reflecting his belief in The Importance of Debate on Market Values.