Book Review: What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J. Sandel
There is a maxim in debating that to build a good argument, it helps to start with a single irrefutable statement. Author Michael Sandel’s is a doozy: “We live at a time when almost everything can be bought and sold.”
From this simple declarative statement, Sandel raises the equally simple, but largely ignored, question of whether or not this is a good thing. “Today the logic of buying and selling no longer applies to material goods alone but increasingly governs the whole of life. It is time to ask whether we want to live this way.”
In modern non-fiction writing, Sandel’s reasoning powers are unsurpassed. The Harvard professor’s earlier best-seller “Justice” was a timeless masterpiece of intelligence, logic and wit. While not quite in that category, “Money” is nonetheless timely and incredibly relevant to the socioeconomic pains our country is currently going through. The moral and practical questions Sandel raises are just the sort that pundits and politicians should be raising but aren’t. “We need to do more than inveigh against greed; we need to rethink the role that markets should play in our society.... [t]o have this debate, we need to ask whether there are some things money should not buy.”
The book begins by examining the currently accepted economic dogma — that markets are pure, amoral reflections of human desire; that they are merely objective arbiters of public opinion; and that the best thing government can do is get out of the way and “let the market decide.” Sandel admits freely that this way of thinking — what he refers to as “Market Triumphalism” — has enormous cachet in today’s society. “Part of the appeal of markets is that they don’t pass judgment on the preferences they satisfy. If someone is willing to pay for sex or a kidney, and a consenting adult is willing to sell, the only question the economist asks is, ‘How much?’”
However, Sandel questions whether widespread acceptance of amoral market decision-making is a good thing. “But our reluctance to engage in moral and spiritual argument, together with our embrace of markets, has exacted a heavy price: It has drained public discourse of moral and civic energy, and contributed to the technologic, managerial politics that afflicts many societies today.” In other words, the author wonders whether there might be one or two areas where abdicating our moral decision-making responsibilities might not be such a hot idea.
Sandel’s writing style is wonderfully easy to read, and his thesis is incredibly thought provoking. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the examples the author uses to support his arguments varies widely. For example, trading in body parts or reproductive services offers a clear and present moral dilemma. By comparison, discussing whether to allow people to rent out space on their foreheads to advertise commercial products seems somewhat trivial. Likewise, the chapter on corporate-owned life insurance policies which pay off your employer if you die early will likely cause outrage among members of the 99 percent who find it difficult to stay employed and feed their families. By contrast, the author’s wistful remembrances of when he could stand in line and get an autograph from his boyhood hero, baseball legend Harmon Killebrew seem less compelling.
Readers should note, Sandel is not a radical intellectual in the mold of Howard Zinn or Noam Chomsky. If you are angered over major economic debacles such as the recent bank bail-outs and the Supreme Court “Citizen’s United” decision, you may find yourself frustrated at the book’s collegial, even convivial tone. (Sandel lists economist Lawrence Summers as one of his good friends.) Moreover, for those who feel passion over the current and growing disparity of wealth in this country, a debate on whether we should allow kfc ads on municipal fire engines may seem like arguing over whether to close the door on a barn that’s already burned to the ground.
These caveats aside, Sandel has penned a book that raises some very thought-provoking and relevant questions. The very last paragraph sums up the book nicely: “And so in the end, the question of markets is really a question about how we want to live together. Do we want a society where everything is up for sale? Or are there certain moral and civic goods that markets do not honor and money cannot buy?”
If you are looking for a polemic to stoke your passions and buttress your own economic ideology, whatever that may be, “Money” is probably not the book for you. But if you delight in civilized discourse and are looking for a work that can fuel a meaningful discussion on what kind of society we want, “What Money Can’t Buy” would be a great purchase. Whether you wish to pay the princely purchase price of $27… That calculus you will have to determine for yourself.