What makes a market transaction morally repugnant?

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Economics
• Moral Psychology
• Market Regulation

Background:

• Certain market transactions, such as those involving human organs or reproductive rights, are widely considered morally unacceptable.
• These transactions, termed "repugnant transactions," elicit strong negative reactions from third parties, prompting a need for societal understanding and potential regulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To empirically investigate the underlying dimensions of moral repugnance towards market transactions.
• To provide a framework for identifying, analyzing, and potentially mitigating the negative societal impacts of repugnant markets.

Main Methods:

• Conducted two studies with 1,554 respondents evaluating 51 distinct market transactions.
• Utilized 21 characteristics to analyze judgments of market transactions and identify common factors contributing to repugnance.

Main Results:

• Repugnance towards market transactions is consistently perceived across different samples.
• Repugnance can be systematically decomposed into five higher-order dimensions: moral outrage, need for regulation, incommensurability, exploitation, and unknown risk.

Conclusions:

• The findings offer a structured approach to understanding public sentiment regarding market transactions.
• The identified dimensions can inform regulatory policy, anticipate public reactions to emerging markets, and guide the design of less objectionable market mechanisms.