A renowned political philosopher reexamines the role that markets and money should play in our society.

Should we pay children to read books or get good grades? Is it right to price human life in order to decide how much pollution to allow? Is it ethical to pay people to test dangerous new drugs or donate their organs? Can we hire mercenaries to fight for us, send prisoners to for-profit prisons, auction off admission to good universities, or sell citizenship to immigrants who are willing to pay?

In his book "What Money Can't Buy," which was included in the New York Times bestseller list, Michael J. Sandel tackles one of the greatest ethical issues of our time: Is there anything wrong with a world where everything is for sale? If so, how can we prevent market values from infiltrating areas of daily life where they don't belong? What are the moral limits of markets? In recent decades, in almost every aspect of daily life, market values have displaced other values. Without even realizing it - Sandel argues - we have gone from having a market economy to being a market society.

In "Justice," a book that became an international bestseller, Sandel masterfully, clearly, and vividly illuminates the tough ethical issues we face daily. Now, in "What Money Can't Buy," he opens a discussion that has never been held in our market-driven era: What is the true role of markets in a democratic society, and how can we protect the moral and collective goods that markets do not respect and money cannot buy?