In 1827, Edinburgh, Scotland was a world centre for anatomical study, but there was a shortage of cadavers for medical students to dissect. Two men, William Burke and William Hare, spotted a grim business opportunity. They began sourcing bodies – by any means possible…
In this episode of Cautionary Tales, recorded live at the Podcast Show in London, true crime meets economics. Tim Harford’s hair-raising story explores a question: what makes some markets acceptable, and others repugnant?
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Further reading
Several enjoyable books pick over the bones of the historical sources on Burke and Hare. Our favourites were The Anatomy Murders by Lisa Rosner, and Brain Bailey’s Burke and Hare: The Year of the Ghouls.
Alvin Roth’s article Repugnance as a Constraint on Markets was published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives in 2007. Roth expands on his ideas in an interview with the Harvard Business School.
