This is a fascinating book. Michael J. Sandel has written What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets as a counter balance to the slew of arguments for monetizing almost everything. For instance, does the police department need extra money? Don’t raise taxes, just put ads on the patrol cars. Does America not want to cut back on pollution? Then create cap and trade laws. Tired of standing in lines at amusement parks? Then buy a special ticket and cut to the head of the line.

Sandel points out that behavioral economic theory has swept past the stodgy old economic methods of the past and entered into every aspect of our lives. We look for economic incentives in almost everything now, from incentivizing people to quit smoking to selling ads in public schools so there is sufficient education funding. There are even programs to pay drug addicted women to have themselves sterilized.

Curiously, we’ve accepted most of these things as part of life. We understand that incentives can be used to make the world a better place, so why not use them?

Lots of reasons, according to Sandel. His two broad categories of objection are fairness and corruption. Regarding fairness he is asking if we really think that the wealthy should to be able to pay for special privileges (driving alone in car pool lanes, access to Congressional hearings, buying tickets online for “free” concerts). Is that fair?

By corruption, he doesn’t really mean the stealing of public funds. He’s referring to the moral concept of corruption. By setting a valuation on something, are we effectively corrupting the value, meaning and purpose of that thing? We don’t sell our votes, for instance. If we did, billionaires would buy them up and elect the people they want for office. So selling our vote would be corrupting our vote.

Although I didn’t agree with everything Sandel has to say, I found his arguments very well put together. This is a challenging book that anybody who loves economics, behavioral psychology, theology, ethics, philosophy and more will find fascinating. You won’t agree with it all, but it creates a conversation that we need to have. I applaud Sandel for putting it together.

Now, back to work trying to figure out how to make a few bucks off this blog.