More than 7,000 people die each year in the United States as a direct result of the faulty system established to procure organs for transplants. Despite the success of transplant technology, the number of patients on waiting lists has continued to grow.

These and other disturbing facts are presented in a new evaluative study, The U.S. Organ Procurement System: A Prescription for Reform (AEI Press, June 2002), by economists David L. Kaserman and A. H. Barnett. At this book forum, the authors will discuss their analysis of the U.S. organ procurement system and outline their prescription for reform. They argue that ending the ban on payment for cadaveric organs can eliminate the shortage. They will also discuss the difference between markets for acquiring organs and markets for distributing organs, and why they think that the ethical objections to cadaveric organ markets can be dismissed.