Monthly General Meeting
Saturday, May 10, 7:30 pm at the First Universalist Church at Hampden Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver. The church is on the northeast corner. Enter the parking lot from Ash Street. Our meeting is in the round building. Meeting fee $3 for both members and guests. Come early and stay late to socialize.
How Much Is that Kidney in the Window?
The Economics of Organ Transplantation
Jim Kneser, Economist and Founder of the Academy of Lifelong Learning
Modern medical science makes it possible to safely transplant a kidney from a healthy individual to one who will die if he doesn’t receive a healthy kidney. Both can continue living normal lives. In the US and most of the world, it is illegal to sell and buy kidneys; but a black market exists in which sellers are underpaid, middle men make exorbitant profits, buyers pay excessive prices, and transactions often involve coercion, fraud, medical failure and murder.
It’s relatively easy to understand the economics of everyday commodities like food, fuel, housing, etc. In a free economy, competition makes products available to consumers at a reasonable cost, and allows producers and distributors to make a reasonable profit.
What would happen if we could legally sell and buy kidneys on the open market? What would be the effects of repugnance, greed, desperation, altruism?
With intriguing questions like that, Jim Kneser keeps his students awake in a course he teaches at the Academy for Lifelong Learning, “How to Think Like an Economist and Why You Should.” (http://academyll.org)
Jim Kneser has taught economics to adults as a volunteer for the past ten years. His classes have included over 1,500 attendees, and to date there have been no suicide attempts nor forehead lacerations due to falling asleep.
The academic love of Jim’s life is economics. He pursued this love in college, earning his bachelor’s degree at Ripon College as an econ major. Subsequently he received an MBA degree in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
For twenty years he pursued a career in the dark side of economics: mergers and acquisitions, speculative markets, and other financial frivolities. He also picked up a CPA designation along the way.
Since retiring, he has reunited with his true love and is devoted to raising the general level of economic literacy. You will also find him leading classes in public policy and classical music.
For more information, contact
Ed Schreiber, Programs Officer, 303-692-8535, ed@schreiber.org