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In 1827 Edinburgh, a shortage of cadavers for medical students created a black market in corpses. Burke and Hare turned from grave robbery to murder, supplying the anatomy school of Dr. Robert Knox. Harford examines how perverse incentives produce horrifying outcomes.
This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.
Canon
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Harford argues that the root cause wasn't individual evil but institutional failure: the law restricted cadaver supply while medical schools expanded demand. The gap between supply and demand, created by the institutional environment, produced the black market.
Highlights
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Perverse incentives create perverse behavior with mathematical certainty
Harford shows that the combination of high demand for cadavers, willing buyers who asked no questions, and poverty among suppliers made murder-for-anatomy inevitable — not because Burke and Hare were uniquely evil, but because the incentive structure guaranteed someone would do it.Was this useful?