What Money Can't Buy Chapter 3 Write Up

One main point of the chapter is how there are some things that money should
and should not buy. There are also things that money cannot buy. An example that the
author Sandal uses is how money can’t buy friendship. He says you can pay somebody
to do tasks that real friends would do but buying a friend doesn't actually give you a real
friend. Another example is how awards are not purchased. They are known as honorific
goods which means that when the good is bought it undermines the value of the good.
Another point of the chapter is there are items that money can buy, but shouldn't be able
to. These items usually have controversy since they are moral issues. One example
used is human kidneys. The kidney does not lose its function if it's bought so there are
perspectives that support and oppose the buying and selling of kidneys. This relates to
the two objections to markets which are the fairness objection and the corruption
objection. The fairness objection to the buying and selling of kidneys is it forces poorer
people to sell kidneys for money. The corruption objection would be that the buying and
selling of human body parts makes the body undignified and seem like a “objectifying
view of the human person, as a collection of spare parts.” (page 110) The fairness
objective describes how the market may/may not cause inequality and the corruption
objective describes how the market may damage the morals and attitudes of the
good/service.
Another idea of the chapter is how when a burden is placed on people, the
incentive of money actually decreases their willingness to take on the burden since it
seems like a bribe. People are more willing to sacrifice something without the money so
they are doing an act of charity. Also, people do not want cash as their compensation
but will take compensation in the form of public goods like parks, libraries, education
improvements, etc. An example was in Switzerland when the villagers would vote if they
would accept a nuclear waste site in their village. When they were offered
compensation for voting yes to have the nuclear site, it actually decreased the yes
votes. Another idea is that the commercialization of items changes the nature of the
goods. An example is when you pay somebody else to write a wedding toast instead of
writing it yourself. This changes the character of it as it now seems less sincere.
I agree that commodifying goods can have negative effects on the goods. I think
that in the US it is becoming more popular for things to be commodified. I agreed with
the example of how some elite colleges accept legacies even if they are not as qualified
as other applicants and how the colleges are selling out in a sense. They sacrifice their
morals and pass along other student’s opportunities to give to the legacy students. This
example also shows how the US puts a lot of value on status. I kind of disagree with the
statements about moral sentiments being scarce resources that deplete the more you
use them. I also wonder how this statement is proven or measured. I disagree with how
you can just call upon people’s altruistic impulses when you need them. I think it
depends on the situation and that it’s not guaranteed that people will be generous when
you need them to be. I also think that some people become more generous the more
generous actions that they do. I liked this quote from Aristotle on page 128, “We
become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing
brave acts.”
Questions to facilitate a discussion:
1. Would you rather receive a cash gift or a thoughtful gift from somebody even
though you may not gain as much utility from the gift if you had used that money
to buy something for yourself?
2. Do you feel more motivated by money or when you have an interest in the topic?
(Intrinsic motivations vs external motivation)
3. Do you believe that values like altruism, generosity, civic spirit, and solidarity are
resources that get depleted with use? Or do you think that these values become
stronger when you practice them?