Economic Analysis of Organ Market

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Shahid Beheshti, ‎Tehran, Iran

2 MA graduate of Economic Law, Faculty of Law, University of Shahid ‎Beheshti, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Nowadays, with substantial improvements in medical technology, a mix of the increase in demand for transplants and the low supply of human transplantable organs has been one of the most critical issues in medical treatment. Every year, many people who need transplants die. Different countries have implemented various policies to solve this problem. One proposed solution is creating a free market for human body organs. In practice, there is no such a market in almost all countries. This paper purports to shed light on the legal feasibility of creation of this market and its potential for reaching an equilibrium between demand and supply for body organs for transplant from an economic perspective.
Findings based on economic analysis suggest that pure altruism is not efficient enough to solve the above-mentioned problem. In contrast, pecuniary incentives can help increase the supply of living and brain-dead donors, narrowing the gap between demand and supply in the body organ market. Besides the free market in which parties are free to determine terms of trade freely, there are other mechanisms in which a third party like the government, insurance, or NGOs is involved in regulating different aspects of the exchange, such as price. Along with other organ procurement policies, if the government can establish a formal and transparent mechanism for the voluntary exchange of organs, besides increasing efficiency, it can also prevent the formation of a black market or human trafficking to a great extent.
It is worth mentioning that there is no consensus among economists about establishing a free market for body organs. The critiques have proposed some non-pecuniary-oriented policies such as default rules, mandated choice, required recovery, reciprocal systems, and pairwise kidney exchange. Despite its potential advantages, this market is also challenging. So, it is necessary to consider its legal and ethical aspects to guarantee its efficiency. Pragmatically, establishing this market requires considering its ethical, legal, and economic features. In addition, due to the complexities of the problem, it seems that applying a bunch of different policies is required to bring about society to its ends.
 

Keywords

References

  1. منابع

    الف) فارسی

    1. روثمن اس.ام و روثمن دی.جی. (1387). هزینه‌های ناگفتۀ بازار خرید و فروش اعضای بدن انسان. سیاحت غرب، 67، 37-46. در: https://www.noormags.ir/view/fa/creator/91519 (8 آبان 1400)
    2. بانشی، مجتبی (1400). مبانی حق انسان بر بدن خویش، گفتاری در فلسفۀ حق انسان بر بدن. تهران: شرکت سهامی انتشار.
    3. سندل، مایکل (2012). آنچه با پول نمی‌توان خرید (مرزهای اخلاقی بازار). ترجمۀ حسن افشار، 1399، تهران: مرکز.

    ب) خارجی

    4. Ghods A. & Savaj S. (2006). Iranian Model of Paid and Regulated Living-Unrelated Kidney Donation. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 1: 1136–1145.

       DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.00700206.   

    5. Roth A., Sonmez T., Unver U. (2004). Pairwise Kidney Exchange. Journal of Economic Theory, 119(2), 151-188. DOI:10.1016/j.jet.2005.04.004

       https://doi.org/10.1162/0033553041382157. >

    6. Calabresi, G. & Melamed, D. (1972). Property rules, liability rules, and inalienability: one view of the Cathedral. Harvard Law Review, 85(6), 1089-1128.    https://doi.org/10.2307/1340059.

    7. David R. (1998). The commodification of human reproductive materials. Journal of Medical Ethics, 24(6), 388-393. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jme.24.6.388.

    8. Fatemi, F. (2012). The Regulated Market for Kidneys in Iran. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering book series, LNICST, 80, 62-75. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-30913-7_19

    9. Firat, B. (2011). The law and Economics of Organ Procurement. doctorate thesis in Law and Economics, Erasmus University of Rotterdam.

       file:///D:/SERIES/Dark/season%202/Bilgel.pdf,

    10. Becker G. & Elias J. (2007). Introducing Incentives in the Market for Live and Cadaveric Organ Donations. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(3), 3-24. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30033732.

    11. DeRoos L., Marrero W.,Tapper E., et al (2019). Estimated Association Between Organ Availability and Presumed Consent in Solid Organ Transplant. JAMA network Open,

        DOI:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.12431.

    12. Lacetera, N. (2017). Incentives and Ethics in the Economics of Body Parts. Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 54 2), 397-417. DOI: 10.3386/w22673.

    13. Blair R. & Kaserman D. (1991). The Economics and Ethics of Alternative Cadaveric Organ Procurement Policies.Yale Journal on Regulation, 8, 404-452.

       Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/yjreg/vol8/iss2/4.

    14. Rose-Ackerman S. (1985). Inalienability and The Theory of Property Rights. Yale Law School Legal Scholarship Repository, Faculty Scholarship Series, Columbia Law Review, 85, 931-969.      https://doi.org/10.2307/1122458.

    15.https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-7774-1

    16.https://www.thecut.com/2017/01/frances-new-opt-out-organ-donation-system-is-a-good-idea.html

Law Quarterly
Volume 52, Issue 4
March 2023
Pages 761-780

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics