Harvard’s Sandel Says Free Markets, Bonuses, Are Not Sacrosanct

Bloomberg.com

By Zinta Lundborg

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

After Hurricane Charley devastated Florida, an enterprising contractor charged $23,000 to clear two trees from a victim’s roof. Bags of ice normally $2 went for $10, and $250 generators shot up to $2,000.

Price gouging? Or precisely how goods and services get allocated in a free society?

In his Harvard University course on moral reasoning, Michael Sandel asks students to consider a wide variety of contentious issues, ranging from the financial bailouts to affirmative action.

Read full story (Bloomberg.com)

New from Harvard

China's stability during war, revolution, and unrest

Daniel Koss, a doctoral student in Harvard's Government Department, has spent nearly a year in China, studying how such a large, diverse nation could remain intact through decades of warfare, revolution, and unrest, and emerge to wield growing influence on the global stage.