Should we allow prisoners to buy prison cell upgrades? Should we outsource wars to private companies? These are some of the questions asked by Michael Sandel, Harvard professor and author of the new book, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets.

Watch as Sandel talks with genConnect about the morality of these controversial issues, and more:

WATCH: The Moral Limits of Markets – What Money Can’t Buy

Michael Sandel

“This is another example of the reach of markets and market values – these are spheres of life traditionally covered by non-market norms,” Sandel says of how some prisons – such as some in California – are allowing prisoners to buy prison cell upgrades. “The criminal justice system is a place where money and market values are extending their reach.”

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Michael Sandel, Harvard professor and author of the new book, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, discusses below. Watch:

Michael Sandel

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“What should be the role of money and markets? That’s really the question,” Sandel said. “All of us need to debate … where markets serve the public good and where they don’t belong.”

Take the 2008 financial crisis, for example. “I think everyone thought at the time that markets and morals had become detached from one another, and that now would be a moment of moral reckoning – a proper debate about the role of moral markets,” Sandel said. “But that hasn’t really happened.”

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“I think this is the great missing debate in our public life: What should be the proper role of markets and economic reasoning?”

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