title: On the feasibility of resolving the organ shortage.
abstract: Debates concerning the feasibility of resolving the organ shortage from the potential pool of deceased donors have suffered from both conceptual and empirical problems. Conceptually, several authors mistakenly have viewed recipient waiting lists as a measure of the magnitude of the shortage. And empirically, the number of deaths that would qualify for potential organ donation has proven difficult to estimate. While the latter problem appears to have been substantially lessened by recent work, the former, definitional, problem remains. This paper offers the economically correct definition of a shortage and applies that definition to the new data on potential supply.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, College of Business, Auburn University, AL 36849-5242, USA. kaserdl@auburn.edu
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Kaserman
mesh_terms: D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006302:Health Services Research; D006321:Heart; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney; D008099:Liver; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014850:Waiting Lists