An ethical assessment of kidney markets

The current waiting lists for donor kidneys cause suffering and premature deaths under renal failure patients. A black market has emerged in developing countries as patients try to secure a kidney from a living donor. This black market in turn has its own harmful effects. Through the application of a framework developed by Debra Satz to assess the noxiousness of markets, I compare the current situation of waiting lists and a black market with a proposal for a well regulated monopsony kidney market. I argue that establishing such a market in post-industrialized countries might well contribute to alleviating current harms while curbing potentially damaging effects of an insufficiently regulated kidney market.