Should economics have fewer taboos? With Alvin Roth

经济应该少些禁忌吗?与阿尔文·罗思对话

The Economics Show

2026-05-15

25 分钟
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Economists like to think of their discipline as a rational science. But might we make better decisions if we ditched some of our moral aversions? Specifically: would we make better choices if we learned to conquer moral repugnance? Alvin Roth, Nobel laureate, and author of the recent book ‘Moral Economics’, tells host Soumaya Keynes why a free market in kidneys and surrogacy makes economic sense, and what he makes of prediction markets. The inaugural FT Weekend Festival in New York City is fast approaching, with a line-up featuring Paul Krugman, Martin Wolf, Gillian Tett, and plenty more. Join on Saturday, June 20, at Spring Studios or online. Register now and as a podcast listener, save 10% using our code FTPODCAST. Further reading When is it OK for economists to experiment on people? So you tried to buy a country . . . Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen. Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  • Would you sell a kidney?

  • A country?

  • A child?

  • Where is the line?

  • And how can economists inform where it should be?

  • This week we're asking, should economics have fewer taboos?

  • This is The Economics Show with Samaya Keynes.

  • I'm joined today by Alvin Roth, who is speaking to me from Stanford.

  • Al, hello.

  • Hi.

  • So we always start this show with a silly question.

  • So on a scale of 1 to 10.

  • How relaxed are you about marketization?

  • So 10, you're extremely relaxed about having transactions in literally anything.

  • And maybe five is the average person.

  • So I'm probably a 7.5, maybe 7.52.

  • I love the specificity.

  • Why?

  • What puts you higher than average?

  • Well, human beings are living a lot longer than they did 100 years ago and certainly 1,000 years ago.