Civil Liberties

Should You Be Allowed To Sell a Kidney? Economist Explains 'Repugnant Markets'

Alvin Roth, Nobel Memorial Prize–winning economist, wants us to think more about how controversial freedoms can become commonplace.

Ari Shtein | 5.28.2026 4:20 PM

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(Illustration: Adani Samat)

Right now, tens of thousands of Americans with end-stage kidney disease spend years waiting for a viable transplant, which are rare and mostly come from deceased organ donors or patients' family members. But "there's not really a shortage" of kidneys, Nobel laureate economist Alvin Roth told Reason's Nick Gillespie in a recent interview. "You have two. You only need one. There's a failure of price mechanisms."

If those in need of kidneys could buy the extra ones out of everyone else, interminable waitlists—and the associated deaths—would soon disappear. But they can't, because the kidney trade is taboo and banned in the United States. It's an example of what Roth........

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