56 pages • 1 hour read
Michael J. SandelWhat Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Economic Context: Market Economies Under Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system whereby private entities or individuals own the means of production, rather than the state. Economically, capitalism relies on a market economy. The forces of supply and demand shape prices and distribute goods and services to individuals within market economies.
On the other hand, collectivist governance systems, such as communism and socialism, are ruled far more by government intervention in terms of production, regulation, and distribution of goods and services. These economies are called “command economies.” Command economies are driven by the importance of shared wealth, rather than individual prosperity.
Western countries in the early 21st century, such as America and the United Kingdom, have mixed economies, characterized by a combination of command and market economy features (“Market Economies.” National Geographic Societies, 2023). Michael Sandel proposes that governments in Western countries since the 1980s have moved increasingly toward market economy features.
Ideological Context: A Critique of Market Triumphalism
Sandel’s work is a critique of society’s faith in the free market. While the notion of a free market has sometimes become inextricably linked to democracy in some strands of political thought, Sandel suggests that there are undemocratic, immoral, and corrupting features introduced by the spread of market values into all aspects of life.
In an address at the 12th World Knowledge Forum, Sandel explained the term Market Triumphalism as, “not only a set of policies, but a way of thinking arising from a basic assumption […] that markets are the primary instruments for achieving the public good” (Lim, Sung-hyun, and Samji Chung. “This Is the End of Market Triumphalism: Michael Sandel.” Pulse, 12 Oct. 2011). In Chapter 1 of What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, Sandel quotes his colleague, Greg Mankiw, a Harvard economist and a proponent of an economy and society increasingly ruled by free-market values. Mankiw says of ticket scalping: “[T]icket scalping is one example of how markets reach efficient outcomes […] By charging the highest price the market will bear, scalpers help ensure that consumers with the greatest willingness to pay for the tickets actually do get them” (35).
Sandel challenges Mankiw, and his implication of an inherent moral code of fairness built into market values, by pointing out that people have unequal access to financial means: “[T]he willingness to pay for a good does not show who values it most highly. This is because market prices reflect the ability as well as the willingness to pay” (37, emphasis added). Through this explanation, Sandel suggests that proponents of free-market values, such as Mankiw, fail to properly acknowledge the reality of social and financial inequality. This inequality, Sandel suggests, makes market values inherently unfair, and therefore markets cannot be considered an instrument through which public good can be achieved.
Through his writing and public speaking, Sandel hopes to start a public and political discourse about the pitfalls of market values, and ultimately to bring about the end of Market Triumphalism in favor of a more nuanced view of the intrinsic biases present in free-market economies.
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