1. Last year almost 5,000 people in the U.S. died while waiting for a kidney transplant. Currently, the waiting list for a kidney transplant stands at close to 100,000 people in the U.S. To address the above growing gap in organ availability, it has been proposed that we should compensate living donors for kidneys to be used for transplantation. Referring to distributive justice theories, discuss your own perspective on this issue. Describe how it may differ from the perspectives of Rawls and a libertarian.

2. New York City recently approved a ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks at restaurants, street carts, and movie theaters, enacting the first restriction of its kind in the nation. Discuss and justify whether this is an appropriate role for government.

3. Based on what we know about the determinants of children’s attainments, what programs or other interventions would you recommend be given top priority in an era of fiscal austerity? Which programs, if any, should be carried out by government (perhaps though contracts with private organizations) and which, if any, should be left purely to the private sector?

4. Compare Feldstein’s analysis of the regressivity of Social Security to Rosen and Gayer’s analysis. What could be done to improve the redistributive fairness of Social Security, unemployment benefits, and possibly Medicare, as well?