EDIT: See http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/08/25/fake-consensualism/ for some more background.
I don't want to live in a country where slavery is required for people to barely survive. I'd like to be on the right side of history. And if part of the tech industry has to be gutted or burned down, so be it.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/580/...
It's what sprung to mind when you mentioned organ sales, and it dives in a bit more to multiple sides of the issue.
Interesting read/listen for those of you haven't yet.
'moralising' is actually a pretty good answer. When it comes to certain actions like organ donations, we're utterly terrified of the idea that someone will feel like they 'have' to do it. Getting a million dollars, even though it would have an amazing impact on your life, is bad because you'd feel pressure toward doing it. Getting a small payment would also be bad because you're being taken advantage of. But you can do it for free if you so desire!
"I think part of the reason is we worry that there could be at lack of judgment there, perhaps. Someone under that unattractive choice. It's related to Mike Munger's concept of euvoluntary. It's a person who is clearly under duress no matter what: even if they enter into it freely, it's such an unattractive option, to call it a free choice seems somehow perverse in itself."
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2016/08/leo_katz_on_why.htm...
In many countries the "minimun wage" you like so much is less than $4.4/hour. Why do you think it is this way?
Minimum wage isn't a matter of having a certain amount of money. It's being able to live with dignity.
Compare what rent or a house costs and food basics you'll see that to a worker quality of life depends on the minimum wage but mostly on the cost of living.
They describe setting up a consensual "kidney club". The idea being that if you're in the club and need a kidney, one member of the club is chosen at random and compelled to give you a kidney, but likewise if you have kidney failure and would otherwise die you get a kidney from a random member.
This sidesteps the usual concerns about implementing a marketplace for organs. I.e. even if you're a billionaire the only way to insure yourself against kidney failure is to enter the pool of potentially mandatory donors, and you can of course stay outside the "kidney club" and not have to donate to anyone, but then you also die if you have kidney failure.
Katz points out that the reason this doesn't work is that current law can't compel you to donate your organs, even if you've previously signed a contract to that effect, but that this creates a market failure & tragedy of the commons.
Implementing a system like this seems like a no-brainer and a benefit for everyone involved, but it's blocked by current contract law & the inability to force people to undergo medical procedures they consented to in the past.