ABSTRACT
The chapter starts by outlining Richard Posner's arguments on privacy, which is viewed in terms of a market, and Hull's critique of them. It adds support to this useful immanent critique and then considers the broader problem of viewing any human attributes as if they are commodities in order to consider what happens when privacy is viewed in this way. Posner states that 'economists' have a problem justifying the criminal status of blackmail because they are keen on voluntary transactions between consenting adults. Titmuss argues that there would be pressure to suppress information about infected blood if there were a market in it. In this context, Arrow emphasises the need for truthfulness in commercial transactions. In the book Contested Commodities Jane Radin makes a different case against the commodification of human attributes. He argues that economists do not necessarily treat human attributes as exchangeable for money but do rate them in terms of preferences.
