Gun Rights and Gun Control: Rebecca and Christopher are coworkers at a technology start-up. Rebecca is a staunch defender of the right to bear arms and fiercely opposes gun control. Christopher doesn’t believe that there is such a right and is deeply concerned by the harm that guns can do to society. A new bill on gun control is being debated in Congress and has caused many heated arguments at the water cooler. In one of these conversations, it is revealed that Rebecca is planning to donate $1,000 to a gun rights charity to fund their fight against this bill, while Christopher is planning to donate $1,000 to a gun control charity which is supporting the bill. An onlooker suggests that their combined behavior is pointless: they are just fighting a zero-sum battle. She points out that it would clearly be better if they both donated the money to Oxfam instead—a charity that Rebecca and Christopher both support. While Rebecca and Christopher would each rather their own $1,000 went to fighting the battle for the gun control bill, they accept that the onlooker is right. They each think that Oxfam is a good charity, and would prefer that $2,000 is donated to this organization than that $1,000 is given to help the bill and $1,000 to hinder it. So they decide to make the deal.
Interesting idea.
For readers who may not know the term, here’s Toby Ord’s paper on moral trade. And here’s one relevant example of moral trade from the paper: