Economics - My Sister's Keeper
The globals move around the world wherever organs might be available, and, because they can afford the price of transportation, medical procedures, and fees for organs, they can buy life while others suffer or die. The locals, on the other hand, wherever they are, are the main suppliers of organs, with all the consequences of that status. (Strassberg, "Organ Transplantation--a Challenge for Global Ethics")
Globalization and transplants? Global ethics and organ distribution? In her article Commodity Fetishism and the Global Traffic in Organs, Nancy Scheper-Hughes presents the distribution of organs and tissue as an industry, and discusses the economic implications of organ trafficking for richer and poorer nations. Recent books describing the black market include Michele Goodwin’s Black market: the supply and demand of body parts and Annie Cheney’s Body brokers : inside America’s underground trade in human remains, both published this year.
A number of scholars look into the ethical complexities of this international market in a 2003 issue of Zygon, Symposium on organ transplants: religion, science, and global ethics (Strassberg, "Symposium on Organ Transplants: Religion, Science, and Global Ethics"). In her introduction to the volume Barbara Strassberg offers the terms global and local which frees us to look at the problems and responsibilities of organ donation within a country’s borders as well as transnationally. Her central concern is how to develop models for the “new ethical regulations” required in the global economy (Strassberg, "Symposium on Organ Transplants: Religion, Science, and Global Ethics").
The flip side of organ distribution, with its own economic implications, is fertility tourism and organ tourism when either parents or patients travel from countries which restrict pre-genetic diagnosis or organ donation to those with more liberal policies.
The ongoing and difficult debate, given the difference in supply and need, has an arena within the United States as well: fee or free? How would paying for organs affect their distribution? What is the most effective way to run an organ bank? David Howard looks at how surgeons select livers for their patients in Why do Transplant Surgeons turn down Organs?. In a later article, Hope versus efficiency in organ allocation, he reviews distribution practices. What criteria would you use to determine who receives an organ? By geographic proximity? According to how long a hopeful recipient has been listed at the organ bank? What if someone else’s need is more urgent?
Working bibliography
Below are some additional books and articles of possible interest:
- Altinanahtar, Alper. "Efficient Allocation of Resources in Human Organ Markets: Is It Achievable Through Economic Tools." Texas Tech University, 2004.
- Barnett, A. H., and David- L. Kaserman. "The "Rush to Transplant" and Organ Shortages." Economic Inquiry 33.3 (1995): 506-15.
- Blair, R. D., and D. L. Kaserman. "The Economics and Ethics of Alternative Cadaveric Organ Procurement Policies." Yale Journal on Regulation 8.2 (1991): 403-52.
- Byrne, Margaret M., and Peter Thompson. "A Positive Analysis of Financial Incentives for Cadaveric Organ Donation." Journal of Health Economics. 20.1 (2001): 69-83.
- Caplan, Arthur L. "Organ Transplants : The Costs of Success - an Argument for Presumed Consent and Oversight." Hastings Center Report 13 (1983): 23-32.
- Clay, Megan, and Walter Block. "A Free Market for Human Organs." The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies 27.2 (2002): 227-36.
- Crowley , Megan R. "Modern Bodies, Miraculous and Flawed: Imaginings of Self and State in Mexican Organ Transplantation." University of California, 2001.
- Epstein, Richard- A. "The Medical Community's Opposition to Organ Markets: Ethics or Economics?" Review of Industrial Organization 8.6 (1993): 669-78.
- Fisher, Marilyn- A. "Using a Standardized Donor Ratio to Assess the Performance of Organ Procurement Organizations." Health Services Research 37.5 (2002): 1329-44.
- Goodwin, Michele. Black Markets : The Supply and Demand of Body Parts. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
- Gorsline, Monique C., and Rachelle L.K. Johnson. "The United States System of Organ Donation, the International Solution, and the Cadaveric Organ Donor Act: "and the Winner Is ...."(Symposium: Organ Donation)." The Journal of Corporation Law 20.n1 (1994): 5-50.
- Guttmann, R. D. "The Meaning of "the Economics and Ethics of Alternative Cadaveric Organ Procurement Policies." Yale Journal on Regulation 8.2 (1991): 453-62.
- Hogle, Linda F. "Public Good, Private Protections: Competing Values in German Transplantation Law." Law & Policy 24.2 (2002): 115-32.
- Howard, D. H. "Why Do Transplant Surgeons Turn Down Organs? A Model of the Accept/Reject Decision." Journal of Health Economics 21.6 (2002): 957-69.
- Institute of Medicine ( U.S.). Committee on Organ Procurement and Transplantation Policy. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Assessing Current Policies and the Potential Impact of the Dhhs Final Rule. 1999. National Academy Press. Available: http://www.netLibrary.com/urlapi.asp?action=summary&v=1&bookid=21636.
- Kaserman, David L., and A. H. Barnett. The U.S. Organ Procurement System : A Prescription for Reform. 2002. AEI Press. Available: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy031/2002025402.html.
- Kolnsberg, H.R. "An Economic Study: Should We Sell Human Organs?" International Journal of Social Economics 30.10 (2003): 1049-69.
- Stogis, Sheryl, et al. "Using a Standardized Donor Ratio to Assess the Performance of Organ Procurement Organizations." Health Services Research 37.5 (2002): 1329.
- Strassberg, Barbara. "Organ Transplantation--a Challenge for Global Ethics." Zygon 38.3 (2003): 643-62.
- ---. "Symposium on Organ Transplants: Religion, Science, and Global Ethics." Zygon 38.3 (2003): 643-742.
- Tabarrok, Alexander. Entrepreneurial Economics : Bright Ideas from the Dismal Science. Oxford University Press, 2002.
- Thorne, Emanuel D. "The Cost of Procuring Market-Inalienable Human Organs." Journal of Regulatory Economics 10.2 (1996): 191 - 200.
- ---. "The Shortage in Market-Inalienable Human Organs: A Consideration of "Nonmarket" Failures." American Journal of Economics and Sociology 57.3 (1998): 247-60.
- White, A J, et al. "The Effects of New York State's Ban on Multiple Listing for Cadaveric Kidney Transplantation." Health Services Research 33.2 (Pt. 1) (1998): 205-22.
- Youngner, Stuart J., Martha W. Anderson, and Renie Schapiro. Transplanting Human Tissue : Ethics, Policy, and Practice. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Jumpstart your research
To jumpstart a research project, always begin with the Duke Libraries homepage at http://library.duke.edu/ which will direct you to materials, experts and research tools on your topic.
BOOKS:
For books, look in Duke’s catalog for additional titles. Try the following:
Library of Congress Subject Headings:
- Donation of organs, tissues, etc.
- Procurement of organs, tissues, etc.
MESH (Medical Subject Headings):
- Tissue Donors -- supply & distribution.
ARTICLES:
To find recent articles, start with EconLit which indexes scholarly journals in economics and related subjects. (Go to the “Databases A-Z” link and look under “E”, or search by title). ABI-Inform indexes journals in business and industry. Begin with the subject headings:
- Blood & organ donations, Bioethics, Health care policy, Transplants & implants.
The Economist Intelligence Unit also identifies articles and materials relevant to organ transplantation and government policy. It is “A full-text database that provides (in PDF and HTML) an overview of economic, political, market, investment, and trading conditions for more than 180 countries in all regions of the world.” PAIS and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts include articles about the economic aspects of the organ and tissue industry, but with emphasis on public policy and political science.
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