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

In his Introduction, Michael Sandel argues that, in the modern market, everything is for sale, including Indian surrogate mothers to carry the babies of American parents ($6250), and jail cell upgrades in California ($82 per night). There are increasingly outlandish ways to make money, such as by standing in a line on behalf of someone else, children reading for state handouts, or tattooing a company’s logo or slogan on one’s head.

The logic of buying and selling underpins all aspects of modern life. Sandel urges the reader to consider whether this state of affairs is desirable.

The 1980s prompted an era of market-friendly policies in both the United States and the United Kingdom. There was a public conception, shared by politicians, that free markets were beneficial for the public.

This concept came into doubt in 2008 with the Global Financial Crisis. Questions were increasingly asked about the inherent greed underpinning markets, and the inability of the market to manage risk.

Sandel suggests that, in addition to greed, the previous decades of market-oriented thinking have caused over-commodification in spheres of life where markets should not exist. He asserts that a public conversation is needed to decide where market-oriented thinking should end.