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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.
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.