353 | Alvin Roth on the Economics of Morally Contested Markets

353 | Alvin Roth on the Economics of Morally Contested Markets

From Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll

May 11, 2026 · 1h 12m · Episode 353

About this episode

Alvin Roth discusses the complexities of morally contested markets and how to navigate them in his book 'Moral Economics'.

Economic markets are efficient ways of deciding fair prices, at least in ideal circumstances of perfect competition, information, and choice. But there is more to life than fair prices. Two people might decide on a fair price to carry out a contract killing, but society generally frowns on the idea. Many examples of morally contestable markets feature less consensus than that one: sex work, drugs, selling organs, adopting children. In his new book Moral Economics , economist Alvin Roth investigates how we should reason through such tricky cases, and what we can learn from them. Get twenty percent off your first purchase at Fast Growing Trees when using the code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Mindscape listeners get free shipping and 365-day returns on clothing from Quince . Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/05/11/353-alvin-roth-on-the-economics-of-morally-contested-markets/ Support Mindscape on Patreon . Alvin Roth received his Ph.D. in operations research from Stanford University. He is currently the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University and the Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration Emeritus at…

People in this episode

Host: Sean Carroll

Guest: Alvin Roth

Topics covered

Keywords

Sponsors

Fast Growing Trees, Quince

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stanford University, American Economic Association, Harvard

Books & works: Moral Economics

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