This Week's Assignment

For this week, read the first of Michael Sandel's Reith Lectures given earlier this year on the BBC. Sandel is a professor in the philosophy department at Harvard (read pp 3 - 10; you don't need to read the Q&A). He argues that there are some things-- health care included-- that are too important to be allocated purely by the market. In the lecture he cites Gary Becker's proposal that the right to immigrate to the US be allocated to the highest bidders as an example of a good that should not be allocated by the market.

Read this brief description of Becker's immigration proposal.

Take a look at Professor Sandel's class blog.