"On a different note, this brings forth interesting questions about establishing free markets for human organs. Proponents say that this would be a win-win situ

"On a different note, this brings forth interesting questions about establishing free markets for human organs. Proponents say that this would be a win-win situation. Stories like this show that such a thing would need very tight regulation." If the market was free he would get paid more, all the risks associated with getting caught, limited access to information and extra barriers to entry push up what percent the "transplant agents" and reduce what the donor gets. Not to mention the dead weight loss that we would get after regulating when there's people willing to sell and people willing to purchase. And I don't see why Chinese people having a different indifference curve aka consumption preferences than Americans or some other country is a bad thing. If that's what makes them happy let them spend their money the way they want to. Note that people spending a big portion of salary on phones, designer clothes etc. is not exclusive to China, rich Asian countries like HK, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and few more have the same thing. Simply a different culture.