In Canada, the blood donation system has always been deliberately separated from the market. No one is paid to give blood and no one pays to get blood. It's a gift. Same is true for organ donation.
Visiting old people or sick people, offering emotional support and companionship also tend to fall into the gift economy. This is what friends, family and neighbours do. And they don't do it for payment.
When these types of gifts start being bought or sold in the market, they become cheapened -- even if their prices are not actually cheap. The motivations to provide these gifts become clouded. Intrinsic motivators -- a sense of duty, an attitude of generosity, love -- are crowded out by extrinsic considerations, such as money and time.
Pennies are counted. Minutes are counted. And the gift is lost.
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