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Kidney Analysis - Sans Article
Kidney Analysis - Sans Article
Kidneys: An
Economic
Analysis
As you have seen so far in this course, economics is the study of incentives and efficiency. We have
applied economic reasoning to such diverse fields as the market for insulin and taxes on soda.
However, we will now take our analysis of markets a step further and look at a controversial topic: the
sale of human organs.
According to the National Kidney Foundation1, approximately seventeen people die each day in the
United States while waiting for a vital organ transplant; about 3,900 of those people are waiting for
kidneys, the most in-demand of the organs. Because the sale of human organs is illegal in the United
States and throughout much of the world, those who need organs must acquire them in two ways: from
a matching donor, either voluntarily (such as a brother giving a kidney to his sister) or involuntarily
(someone dies in an accident and has his/her organs donated). In both cases, however, there are
complications in performing the surgeries, hoping the organ is a match, waiting for the transplant,
making sure the kidney is healthy, etc.
This is where economics is useful. We have people who need a product (in this case, kidneys), and we
have people who might be willing to sell a product (their healthy kidneys). As such, we have a market
for kidneys. And supply/demand analysis suggests that if it was legal for citizens to buy and sell
kidneys, then the market equilibrium would ensure that many, if not all, of the people on the kidney
transplant list would receive the organ they need to survive.
Your task will be as follows. Using economic analysis and the New York Times Magazine article, you
will answer the following question in a three to five page paper: Should the United States legalize
the sale of kidneys on the grounds of economic efficiency?
1 http://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/fs_new/25factsorgdon&trans.cfm
A Note About the Length
The three to five page length serves more as a recommendation than a requirement; if your paper is
slightly longer or slightly shorter than this, it is fine. The key is the content. However, your instructor
would find it stunning if you could put the quality of reasoning and analysis into a paper less than three
pages. On the opposite hand, a paper that runs into the seven or eight page range seems excessive
given the requirements for the assignment.
Content
Please remember that this is an economic analysis paper, so please do not insert political considerations
into your reasoning. Remember, you are trying to prove to me using economics that kidneys sales are
efficient or inefficient for society. The economic analysis should be rooted in material that we have
discussed thus far in class.
Your paper should demonstrate sound economic reasoning, and a high-quality paper should include at
least one graph to analyze the market for kidneys, if not more than one. Graphs should be included in
an appendix located at the end of the paper, and referenced in the body of the paper. Please note that
the appendix is not counted as part of the page requirement.
This is not a research paper per se, and so you are not expected or required to do any outside research.
You should reference the article given in class and it should be accurately cited using APA format (in-
text citations). However, if you do use outside materials, then they must be included in the works cited
page and cited accurately within the body of the paper.
Grading
Papers will be graded on a holistic scale in which the instructor will examine the paper's content,
coherence, clarity, and grammar/mechanics. The following scale will be used to convert letter grades
into a score for the gradebook:
E D- D D+ C- C C+ B- B B+ A- A A+
50 62 66 69 72 76 79 82 86 89 92 96 100
Collaboration
In the next several days, the instructor will create a blog entry about the paper. Students are
encouraged to use the blog as a sounding board to ask questions, get ideas, and clarify some of their
thoughts. Please note, however, that each student will be required to turn in their own paper, and that
plagiarism is severely punished.