Morals vs Money

Michael Sandel adopts a novel approach to address the age-old question of the moral limits of markets in his bestseller. Chen Yingqun explores further.

Market principles should not be allowed to invade our civic, social and family lives, says Michael Sandel, a political philosopher and a professor at Harvard University's Department of Government. Sandel, author of the bestseller What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, says there is often a misconception that markets represent the public good.

"When people believe that markets and market logic can by themselves define the public good, there is a temptation to avoid moral and ethical reflection and discourse in public life," he says.