Question

How does Sandel counter the economist's Utilitarian argument in favor of ticket scalping and paid line-standers?

Answer 1

Sandel counters the economist's argument in a way that people do not want to wait for long and to be in uncertainty. Hence, they have the right to pay and become ahead of the waiting line or in a separate line that is very short. Further, ticket scalping helps both such as scalpers and original producers . Here, the original producers get their tickets sold and remain certain to earn revenue for their shows, at the same time ticket scalpers take the risk of lower demand and lower revenue at the time of the show and get reward by selling the tickets at higher price. This approach is more of the market driven that favors the entities who take risk and wait for the reward.

Therefore, Sandel is of the view that if somebody is reselling tickets by taking risk and or paying for not to be in line, is absolutely fine and ethical, against the utilitarianism argument made by the economist that it many not favor the society if ticket scalping takes place.