@article{Kanbur:127655,
      recid = {127655},
      author = {Kanbur, Ravi},
      title = {Obnoxious Markets},
      address = {2001-07},
      number = {642-2016-44180},
      series = {WP},
      pages = {20},
      year = {2001},
      abstract = {Certain markets evoke popular discomfort, distrust and  even outrage. Trade in arms,
drugs, toxic waste, child  labor and body parts, for example, elicits these reactions  to different
degrees. This paper asks—what is it about some  markets that brings about these responses? It is
argued  that three key parameters—extremity, agency and  inequality—have a bearing on our
intuitive reactions and  serve to differentiate markets. The more extreme are the  likely outcomes
of a market, the further is the agent who  acts in the market from agents who bear the
consequences of  those actions, and the greater is the degree of inequality  in market relations, the
more likely it is that the  operation of the market will provoke discomfort. At the  extreme, when
outcomes are potentially extreme, agency is  minimal and market relations are highly unequal, the
market  in question may deserve the label “obnoxious”. However, it  is not obvious that the best or
only answer to an obnoxious  market is to attempt to ban it. The forces underlying the  market
may not disappear, and such attempted bans may in  fact intensify the problems of extremity,
agency and  inequality. While judicious regulation remains an important  tool, a complementary
approach is to address the underlying  issues directly—extremity through safety nets,  agency
through information, and inequality through  redistribution.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/127655},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.127655},
}