Homo Economicus
Luddite of the Mind
Professor Sandel’s objection to economics as a discipline comes from his discomfort at the marketization of public life. In his public lecture “The Perils of Thinking like an Economist” and his book “What Money Can’t Buy,” Sandel offers numerous examples of markets that challenge social norms. He claims that these markets, while innocuous in reasoning proposed by economics textbooks, create moral issues in two different ways. First, the expansion of markets causes injustice stemming from wealth inequality. In a world where kidneys can be sold and bought, for instance, wealth inequality could cause health resources to be allocated to the wealthiest rather than the neediest. Second, the formation of markets may alter the nature or character of the good being traded. Paying kids to read, for instance, changes their love for knowledge into love for money, which may deter kids from reading for fun. He blames economists for formalizing moral issues like these without consulting moral philosophy, and argues to reduce the role of markets in public life.
