Scarcity of Organs: The Role of Families, Markets and the State in closing the Gap

All over the world we face an acute shortage of organs. People die every day while waiting to receive an organ transplantation. This project takes up proposals aimed at eliminating the shortage through increasing the supply of organs. One prominent proposal is the opt-out model, where we are all considered donors by default. A second proposal is to eliminate or diminish the existing family veto, which accounts for many organs not being utilized. The third proposal is that we introduce a market in organs, seeking to increase incentives for donation.
For all three proposals, it is the case that we cannot only discuss efficiency questions, normative considerations must be taken into account as well. The project brings together empirical knowledge regarding current practices, expected outcomes of the proposals and psychological literature on giving and donating. From this platform, it delivers a normative contribution to these discussions, which has the potential to influence the lives of wellbeing of many people. We owe it to each other to carefully consider the ethical implications of each step we may which to take