Eric Crampton • Dec 01, 2016 •
It is illegal to pay organ donors for their gift. Economists can easily explain the consequences: at a price of zero, you have a big shortage. This is particularly the case for live donors, where donors face real personal costs, both in the transplant process and in recuperation. Chris Bishop’s bill, which passed Third Reading in the House yesterday, … Read More
Eric Crampton • Sep 22, 2016 •
I’m really excited about this one. Last year, Chris Bishop’s Member’s Bill on compensation for live organ donors was drawn from the ballot. New Zealand provided some small amount of compensation to donors for their lost income, but under ACC rules that come with strict caps on how much can be paid – for reasons that make sense for ACC but … Read More
Mark Hanna • Mar 08, 2016 •
Organ donation is important. When a person dies in a way that leaves them brain dead but their other organs still viable, such as an intracranial haemorrhage in an intensive care unit, their organs can be transplanted to save others’ lives in a way nothing else can. Only a few organs, kidneys for example, can be donated by live donors. Read More
Eric Crampton • Aug 28, 2015 •
We this week released Elisabeth Prasad’s report running some of the numbers on whether compensating live kidney donors makes sense. She finds that the typical kidney transplant saves the Ministry of Health on net about $125,000 over the longer term: dialysis is expensive. Chris Bishop’s Member’s bill passed first reading and is off to committee. It increases compensation to … Read More
Robert Hickson • Oct 08, 2014 •
Biology has truly started conjugating with engineering now. All sorts of food and body parts are now being generated in the lab. While genetically modified crops and farm animals make the headlines, and raise concerns about environmental impacts, food safety, and ethics, there is a quieter synthetic biology revolution going on in labs. Synthetic biology is being used … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Apr 08, 2010 •
There seems to be quite a lot of debate around the subject of organ donation at the moment. The Herald today warns people off looking for “bootleg kidneys“. The university of Victoria ran a conference yesterday on the issue and Eric Crampton at Offsetting Behaviour has run a series of articles here, here and here. [...] Related posts: … Read More