Increase Kidney Procurement: Compensate for Live Donors and Invest in Education
Kidney shortage has become a serious and urgent problem. The shortage of kidneys and prohibition of kidney trade have led to the kidney black market. As the black market grows, the question for whether kidney donations should be compensated has become controversial among people from different fields. Some people, especially bioethicists and religious scholars, are against compensation of kidney donations because it negatively affects donors’ altruism and brings about ethical problems. However, I think the government should set up a fair and transparent transplant system, where people get fixed compensation for living kidney donations. It would be effective to increase …show more content…
To economists, it is most likely and obvious that paid donation increases the supply for kidneys; as a result, the demand and supply for kidneys will come to an equilibrium. Under the law of prohibition of organ trade, the price of a kidney is set to zero, which is significantly below the price of kidneys in regulated kidney markets. Gary Becker, a Nobel laureate in Economics, with his research assistant Julio Jorge Elías stated that, “a very large supply of live kidney donors would be available at about $15,200 per donor. This means that the total supply of live donors would be essentially infinitely elastic at a cost that adds together all the component costs of live transplants, including the amount that must be paid to donors” (Becker and Elías). Based on their calculations, putting a $15,200 price tag on a living kidney can narrow the gap between supply and demand for kidneys, reaching an equilibrium between supply and demand. This means patients are able to pay $15,200 for a kidney, and vendors are willing to exchange their kidneys for this amount of money. The amount of compensation is calculated based on the economic model of demand and supply for a kidney in a free market. However, I have to emphasize that this compensation system should be …show more content…
I believe the government should set up a lawful compensation system for living donations and increase spending on education. A regulated compensation system will increase the supply of kidneys from the economic perspective and under this system, the number of living kidney donations will increase as cracking down the black markets. In addition, education could increase deceased donations by enhancing people’s altruism. Although the compensation system is questionable and educational programs may not immediately work, both the compensation system supported by the government and educational programs will be effective to increase people’s consent for donation, therefore gradually solving the kidney shortage
Kidney shortage has become a serious and urgent problem. The shortage of kidneys and prohibition of kidney trade have led to the kidney black market. As the black market grows, the question for whether kidney donations should be compensated has become controversial among people from different fields. Some people, especially bioethicists and religious scholars, are against compensation of kidney donations because it negatively affects donors’ altruism and brings about ethical problems. However, I think the government should set up a fair and transparent transplant system, where people get fixed compensation for living kidney donations. It would be effective to increase …show more content…
To economists, it is most likely and obvious that paid donation increases the supply for kidneys; as a result, the demand and supply for kidneys will come to an equilibrium. Under the law of prohibition of organ trade, the price of a kidney is set to zero, which is significantly below the price of kidneys in regulated kidney markets. Gary Becker, a Nobel laureate in Economics, with his research assistant Julio Jorge Elías stated that, “a very large supply of live kidney donors would be available at about $15,200 per donor. This means that the total supply of live donors would be essentially infinitely elastic at a cost that adds together all the component costs of live transplants, including the amount that must be paid to donors” (Becker and Elías). Based on their calculations, putting a $15,200 price tag on a living kidney can narrow the gap between supply and demand for kidneys, reaching an equilibrium between supply and demand. This means patients are able to pay $15,200 for a kidney, and vendors are willing to exchange their kidneys for this amount of money. The amount of compensation is calculated based on the economic model of demand and supply for a kidney in a free market. However, I have to emphasize that this compensation system should be …show more content…
I believe the government should set up a lawful compensation system for living donations and increase spending on education. A regulated compensation system will increase the supply of kidneys from the economic perspective and under this system, the number of living kidney donations will increase as cracking down the black markets. In addition, education could increase deceased donations by enhancing people’s altruism. Although the compensation system is questionable and educational programs may not immediately work, both the compensation system supported by the government and educational programs will be effective to increase people’s consent for donation, therefore gradually solving the kidney shortage