What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets

In What Money Can’t Buy, political philosopher Michael J. Sandel mounts a formidable critique of the silent, decades-long expansion of market thinking into spheres of life traditionally governed by nonmarket norms. The book begins not with abstract theory, but with a cascade of provocative, real-world examples: a prison cell upgrade for a fee, the sale of the right to emit carbon, insurance policies taken out by investors on the lives of strangers. These are the frontier outposts of a market society, and Sandel uses them to hook the reader into a fundamental ethical inquiry: Have we drifted from having a market economy to being a market society, and is this where we want to be?

Sandel systematically explores the two primary objections to this creep of commodification. The first is the issue of fairness, where market allocations often tilt decisively in favor of the wealthy, turning equality of access into a privilege of wealth. The second, and more profound, argument concerns corruption—the way putting a price on certain goods and practices can degrade or crowd out the values they embody. Paying children to read books may increase pages turned, but it can also replace the intrinsic love of learning with a crude instrumentalism. Sandel draws on social science, such as the Israeli daycare study where fines for late pick-ups increased tardiness, to show how monetary incentives can displace moral responsibility.

The analysis moves beyond individual cases to diagnose a broader societal shift. Sandel argues that the great missing project of our time is a public debate about the role of markets and the meaning of the good life. By avoiding questions of value and meaning, we have ceded the moral terrain to the logic of efficiency and consumer choice alone. The book serves as both a warning and a call to arms, insisting that democracy requires a vibrant, substantive discourse about what should and should not be up for sale.

What Money Can’t Buy is aimed at a broad audience—any citizen concerned about the moral fabric of society in an age of rampant commercialism. It stands as an essential work of public philosophy, challenging readers to confront the ethical boundaries of markets and to reclaim civic discourse about the values that money cannot, and should not, measure.

Readers widely praise Sandel’s accessible, story-driven approach to complex moral philosophy, finding the real-world examples both shocking and illuminating. The consensus is that the book successfully provokes essential self-reflection and public conversation. Criticisms focus on a perceived lack of concrete solutions or deeper philosophical rigor, with some noting the arguments can feel repetitive. It is universally regarded as an engaging and thought-provoking read, even for those without a background in economics or philosophy.