Taboo and Risk Ratings

Leuker et al asked the following question:

To what extent do you consider transacting [TRANSACTION] for money a taboo? (Not at all to Very much)

So, we can take the most taboo transaction for our replication, in case anyone argues that our transactions aren’t taboo enough. We’ll also want to make sure that they’re low on physical harm. The closest item they have to that is:

To what extent does transacting [TRANSACTION] pose a risk to the seller? (No risk at all , High risk)

Here are the means (+ standardized scores) by transaction for these two items, ordered by taboo rating:

transaction taboo taboo_z riskknown riskknown_z
Bride-price 6.137255 2.40435622 3.725490 0.858431471
Right to hunt endangered animals 5.717391 1.93546709 3.574468 0.577278580
Voting rights 5.260870 1.42563941 3.957447 1.290257459
Sterilization 5.130435 1.27997436 3.739130 0.883825054
Adoption 5.046512 1.18625189 3.822222 1.038514299
Doctorate 5.027027 1.16449216 3.263158 -0.002277351
Permits for having children 4.878049 0.99811841 4.050000 1.462560688
Price gouging 4.833333 0.94818175 2.800000 -0.864523154
Dwarf-tossing 4.825000 0.93887537 3.153846 -0.205779420
Child labor 4.813954 0.92653901 2.906977 -0.665368072
Refugee quotas 4.704546 0.80435590 3.909091 1.200234873
Mercenary armies 4.622222 0.71242017 3.600000 0.624810505
Deceased organs 4.581395 0.66682613 4.619048 2.521937904
Tradeable emissions 4.545454 0.62668868 2.956522 -0.573131786
Bribery 4.475000 0.54800748 3.200000 -0.119856324
Horsemeat in a restaurant 4.466667 0.53870110 3.068182 -0.365257893
Living organs 4.395833 0.45959689 3.312500 0.089581221
Prostitution 4.372093 0.43308453 3.404762 0.261342172
Cadavers for anatomical studies 4.326087 0.38170655 3.717391 0.843354031
Immigration rights 4.285714 0.33661975 3.857143 1.103524895
Guns 4.274510 0.32410697 2.800000 -0.864523154
Cocaine 4.255319 0.30267551 2.723404 -1.007118930
University entrance 4.209302 0.25128552 2.657895 -1.129075843
Citizenship 4.204546 0.24597321 3.023256 -0.448895156
Surrogacy 4.100000 0.12922046 3.400000 0.252477090
Blood 4.068182 0.09368702 3.586956 0.600527891
Gay marriage 4.052632 0.07632105 2.857143 -0.758142178
Abortion 4.000000 0.01754392 2.743590 -0.969540271
Voluntary slavery 4.000000 0.01754392 4.272727 1.877204718
Jury duty 3.959184 -0.02803834 3.187500 -0.143127163
Marijuana 3.954546 -0.03321814 2.659091 -1.126848969
Sending waste to other countries 3.893617 -0.10126091 3.531915 0.498058704
Escort service 3.891892 -0.10318747 2.810811 -0.844397023
Pornography 3.833333 -0.16858364 3.738095 0.881897863
Algorithm predicting life expectancy 3.604651 -0.42396797 4.136364 1.623341026
Nuclear energy 3.466667 -0.57806428 3.234043 -0.056480424
Gambling 3.444444 -0.60288129 2.266667 -1.857412260
Ticket scalping 3.416667 -0.63390255 3.200000 -0.119856324
Human eggs 3.390244 -0.66341058 3.658537 0.733786138
Medical marijuana 3.127660 -0.95665567 3.191489 -0.135700300
Clinical trial participation 3.088889 -0.99995343 3.600000 0.624810505
Genetically modified crops 2.906977 -1.20310662 3.800000 0.997143920
Selling sperm 2.900000 -1.21089800 3.350000 0.159393737
Queuing 2.863636 -1.25150766 2.697674 -1.055019320
Cigarettes 2.857143 -1.25875938 2.306122 -1.783958729
Blasphemy 2.755556 -1.37220856 3.093023 -0.319011407
Boxing 2.720930 -1.41087692 2.604651 -1.228197652
Littering 2.617021 -1.52691885 2.348837 -1.704438066
Life insurance 2.533333 -1.62037865 2.744186 -0.968430153
Charging interest 2.404762 -1.76396277 3.047619 -0.403538926
Alcohol 1.958333 -2.26251875 2.574468 -1.284388494

Transactions

For reference, here are the transactions:
1. Organs (living) (Lacetera, 2017; Roth, 2007; Sandel, 2013; Satz, 2010): A living person A (“seller”) sells one of their kidneys to person B (“buyer”), who would otherwise die.
2. Organs (deceased) (Leider & Roth, 2010): A deceased person’s family (“seller”) sells one of the person’s kidneys to person B (“buyer”), who would otherwise die.
3. Blood (Sandel, 2013): Person A (“seller”) sells a pint of their blood to person B (“buyer”) for blood transfusion.
4. Selling a child (Sandel, 2013): Person A (“seller”) transfers all rights and responsibilities for their child to person B (:buyer”) in exchange for a sum of money.
5. Surrogacy (Roth, 2007; Sandel, 2013): A woman (“seller”) is paid to bear a child for someone else (“buyer”), who will become the newborn child’s legal parent.
6. Selling sperm (Roth, 2007; Sandel, 2013): A man (“seller”) is paid to provide sperm for the artificial insemination of a woman who is not his sexual partner (“buyer”).
7. Sterilization (Sandel, 2012): A woman (“seller”) is paid by a company (“buyer”) to undergo sterilization.
8. Human eggs (Roth, 2007; Sandel, 2013): A woman (“seller”) sells her eggs to an institute (“buyer”) for research purposes.
9. Permits for having children (Sandel, 2013): Every woman has the right to have one, and only one, child; however, every woman (“seller”) can sell that right to another woman (“buyer”).
10. Prostitution (Lacetera, 2017; Roth, 2007; Satz, 2010): Person A (“seller”) engages in sexual activity with person B (“buyer”) in exchange for a sum of money.
11. Life insurance (Roth, 2007; Sandel, 2012): Against payment of a premium, a company (“seller”) agrees to pay a beneficiary (“buyer”) a sum of money upon the death of a designated person.
12. Pornography (Roth, 2007): A couple (“seller”) engages in sexual activity in front of a camera and sells the recording to an audience (“buyer”).
13. Dwarf-tossing (Roth, 2007): A person with dwarfism (“seller”), wearing special padded clothing, is thrown onto mattresses or at Velcro-coated walls in a competition that person B (“buyer”) pays to enter.
14. Cadavers for anatomical studies (Roth, 2007): A deceased person’s family (“seller”) sells the person’s body to a medical school (“buyer”) for anatomical study.
15. Clinical trial participation (Ambuehl, 2017; Leuker et al., 2020): A person (“seller”) is paid to participate in an institute’s (“buyer”) clinical trial of a new Ebola vaccination.
16. Abortion (Elias et al., 2017): A doctor (“seller”) is paid by a woman (“buyer”) to end her pregnancy within the legal time frame.
17. Child labor (Satz, 2010): A child under the age of 16 (“seller”) is paid to work full time for a company/person (“buyer”).
18. Voluntary slavery (Roth, 2007; Satz, 2010): Person A (“seller”) repays their debt to a company/person B (“buyer”) by means of their own labor.
19. Right to marry to gay couple (Roth, 2007): The government (“seller”) sells the right to marry legally to a homosexual couple (“buyer”).
20. Voting rights (Satz, 2010): Person A (“seller”) sells their right to vote to person B (“buyer”).
21. University entrance (Sandel, 2013): A university (“seller”) grants a place to a high-paying student (“buyer”).
22. Immigration rights (Sandel, 2013): A country (“seller”) sells an immigration visa to a person (“buyer”).
23. Citizenship (Sandel, 2013): A country (“seller”) sells citizenship to a person (“buyer”).
24. Mercenary armies (Sandel, 2013): Person/company A (“seller”) hires out professional soldiers to a country/company (“buyer”).
25. Queuing (Sandel, 2013): Person A (“seller”) sells their position in a queue to person B (“buyer”).
26. Sending waste to other countries (Roth, 2007): Country A (“seller”) is paid to take waste from country B (“buyer”).
27. Right to hunt endangered animals (Sandel, 2013): A country (“seller”) sells the right to kill a member of an endangered species to a game hunter (“buyer”).
28. Gambling (Roth, 2007): A casino (“seller”) sells the chance to win money at gambles (e.g. blackjack, roulette, slot machines) to an individual (“buyer”).
29. Price gouging (Kahneman et al., 1986; Roth, 2007): After a hurricane or other natural disaster, a company (“seller”) sells basic necessities to a customer (“buyer”) at a much higher price than usual.
30. Bride-price (Roth, 2007): A woman’s family (“seller”) allows the groom (“buyer”) to marry her in exchange for money, property, or other form of wealth.
31. “Yeezus” album (Roth, 2007): A rapper (“seller”) sells an album titled “Yeezus”, in which he compares himself to Jesus, to an audience (“buyer”).
32. Jury duty (Walzer, 1983): The state (“seller”) allows a person (“buyer”) to pay to be released from mandatory jury duty.
33. Escort service (Walzer, 1983): Person A (“seller”) is paid to spend time on a date with person B (“buyer”), without sexual intercourse.
34. Doctorate (Walzer, 1983): A university (“seller”) awards a doctorate to person B (“buyer”) in exchange for a sum of money.
35. Bribery (Walzer, 1983): An institution (“seller”) o ers a job to a person (“buyer”), who has given a huge gift to the hiring committee.
36. Marijuana (Roth, 2007): Person/company A (“seller”) sells marijuana to person B (“buyer”).
37. Medical marijuana (Roth, 2007): Person/company A (“seller”) sells marijuana to person B (“buyer”) for health purposes.
38. Cocaine (Roth, 2007): Person/company A (“seller”) sells cocaine to person B (“buyer”).
39. Alcohol (Roth, 2007): Person/company A (“seller”) sells alcohol to person B (“buyer”).
40. Nuclear energy (Roth, 2007): A company (“seller”) sells electricity from a nuclear energy plant to a household/company (“buyer”).
41. Boxing (personal communication with Roth, 2018): Two people (“seller”) engage in a boxing match to entertain a crowd (“buyer”) in exchange for a sum of money.
42. Tradeable emissions (Roth, 2007): A governmental body (“seller”) sells a permit to a company (“buyer”) that allows it to discharge specific quantities of a specific pollutant per time period.
43. Refugee quotas (Sandel, 2013): An international body assigns each country a yearly refugee quota, based on national wealth A nation (“seller”) is paid to take on the refugee quota of another country (“buyer”).
44. Littering (Sandel, 2013): A governmental body (“seller”)  nes a hiker (“buyer”) $100 for littering in the Grand Canyon.
45. Charging interest (Roth, 2007): A bank (“seller”) lends money to an individual (“buyer”) and charges an interest rate.
46. Ticket scalping (Roth, 2007): A person/company (“seller”) buys large numbers of tickets for an event from licensed vendors and sells them on to other people (“buyer”) at a higher price.
47. Horsemeat in a restaurant (Roth, 2007): A restaurant (“seller”) sells a horse meat dish from its menu to a guest (“buyer”).
48. Genetically modified crops (Roth, 2007): A company (“seller”) sells genetically modified crops to customers (“buyer”).
49. Guns (own): Person A (“seller”) sells a gun to person B (“buyer”).
50. Cigarettes (own): Person/company A (“seller”) sells cigarettes to person B (“buyer”).
51. Algorithm predicting life expectancy (own): Company A (“seller”) sells an algorithm that predicts a patients’ life expectancy, given their health history and data, to a hospital (“buyer”).