The centerpiece of the United States organ policy is a flat prohibition against the use of “valuable consideration” to purchase a live or cadaveric organ. One obvious consequence of this (indefensible) decision is the creation of chronic organ shortages that result in the death of thousands of individuals per year. As happens in all other markets where prices are capped or exchanges are prohibited, queues form. The money that would have been a simple transfer payment between buyer and seller can no longer be paid. Instead, frustrated buyers invest in time by waiting in line for the goods or services that they so desperately need. The upshot is that the buyers have to pay in time, not cash. But their outlays in time are deadweight losses, not simple transfer payments. Organs are no exception to the general behavioral response to maximum prices, here set at zero.
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