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Field
Abstract
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Before
In modern societies, certain of activities and transactions are limited or prohibited on the basis of ethical considerations, even when the parties in these activities or transactions may benefit from an economic standpoint. Examples include payments for human organs for transplantation, prostitution, the performance of morally controversial research, and the commercialization of living organisms. The opposition to these activities rests in part on a desire to protect vulnerable people from exploitation or coercion. However, the aversion is often due to the idea that certain transactions would corrupt moral values. In this study, we propose and test a methodology to understand individuals’ attitudes toward ethically controversial transactions. Specifically, the goal of this study is to determine whether and how individuals make trade-offs between moral values and economic efficiency, and to estimate these preferences and their distribution in the population.
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After
In modern societies, certain activities and transactions are limited or prohibited on the basis of ethical considerations, even when the parties in these activities may benefit from an economic standpoint. Examples include payments for human organs for transplantation, prostitution, the performance of morally controversial research, and the commercialization of living organisms. The opposition to these activities rests in part on a desire to protect vulnerable people from exploitation or coercion. However, the aversion is often due to the idea that certain transactions would corrupt moral values. In this study, we propose and test a methodology to understand individuals’ attitudes toward ethically controversial transactions. Specifically, the goal of this study is to determine whether and how individuals make trade-offs between moral values and economic efficiency, and to estimate these preferences and their distribution in the population.
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