A repugnant market is an area of commerce that is considered by society to be outside of the range of market transactions and that bringing this area into the realm of a market would be inherently immoral or uncaring. For example, many people consider a market in human organs to be a repugnant market or the ability to bet on terrorist acts in prediction market to be repugnant. Others consider the lack of such markets to be even more immoral and uncaring, as trade bans (e.g. in organ transplants and terrorism information) can create avoidable human suffering.
The repugnance of markets varies according to time and culture. Slavery is a market currently considered repugnant while for most of recorded history before circa 1000 AD it was considered acceptable, and was still considered acceptable against certain people groups until circa 1800 AD. Examples of markets considered repugnant at one time or place include:
Pregnancy/early childhood
Abortion
Adoption
Egg donation for research purposes
Fetal organs and aborted fetal tissue
Surrogacy, legal in India and most states in the U.S. (but banned in France and Japan)
Drugs & food
Advertising tobacco and alcohol
Alcohol
Illegal drug trade
Meat of horses or dogs in California
Labour
Child labor
Slavery or indentured servitude
Social status/political power
Citizenship and/or immigration (Investor visas such as the U.S. E-2 visa are exceptions. Several notable economists have proposed selling citizenship)
Education
Lobbying
Military mercenaries
Political corruption activities, such as bribery and influence peddling
Vote buying
Money/Speculation
Currency speculation
Gambling
Predatory lending, especially mortgage lending
Pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing
Selling short
Ticket touting in sports events and concerts
Usury (Has never been allowed by Islam and historically banned in Christian countries)
Economic corruption/media power
Payola
Product placement in some European countries
Radio spectrum
Sex
Pornography (Repugnant in some countries/cultures, especially paraphiliac pornography)
Prostitution
Other
Certain prediction markets (e.g. 'terrorism futures market')
Health Care
Organ trade and organ donation from a live donor (Turkey and the Philippines are notable exceptions}
Cadavers
Life insurance
Real estate in Cuba
Real estate broker/agent profession or flipping real estate
Metered parking
Simony
