Beyond prices and incentives, social emotions (especially disgust) make some trades politically and morally hard to adopt. Designing working institutions for controversial exchanges (like paid organ donation) therefore requires both technical market design and explicit strategies to reframe moral narratives.
— This reframes debates about legalizing contested markets (organs, sex work, online adult commerce) as combined technical + cultural projects, shifting where advocates and regulators must focus.
Yascha Mounk
2026.05.12
100% relevant
Al Roth’s discussion of paid kidney donation and how moral disgust blocks obvious efficiency gains (podcast transcript, Persuasion, May 12, 2026).
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