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The just price, exploitation, and prescription drugs: why free marketeers should object to profiteering by the pharmaceutical industry

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  • Mark R. Reiff

Abstract

Many people have been enraged lately by the enormous increases in certain generic prescription drugs. But free marketeers defend these prices by arguing that they simply represent what the market will bear, and in a capitalist society there is accordingly nothing wrong with charging them. This paper argues that such a defense is actually contrary to the very principles that free marketeers claim to embrace. These prices are not only unjust and exploitative, but government interference with them would not render the market less free, at least if what it means for a market to be “free” is properly understood. Everyone, even free marketeers with a libertarian or neoliberal bent, should accordingly be against this kind of profiteering.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark R. Reiff, 2019. "The just price, exploitation, and prescription drugs: why free marketeers should object to profiteering by the pharmaceutical industry," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(2), pages 108-142, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsocec:v:77:y:2019:i:2:p:108-142
    DOI: 10.1080/00346764.2018.1551561
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    Cited by:

    1. Jackson, William A., 2024. "The Ethics of Price Variation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 53(2), pages 201-215.

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