FIELD RESEARCH GRANTS
Wan-Zi Lu, Sociology
Research on donation outcomes tends to assume that the same policies are equally effective worldwide. Since there are different policies implemented in Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, we would expect the donation rates to be different. Those that provide stronger incentives (such as the opt-out system and financial incentives) should raise the procurement outcome. However, the three polities have significantly lower donation rates than other countries with similar levels of medical advancement. Also, the implementation of financial incentives has not shown any upswing in living donation in the same country. When and where do financial and political incentives increase rates of organ donation, and why do they sometimes fail to do so? Through comparing the donation practices in the three study sites, the study will address the conditions that make incentivized systems work. I hypothesize that though cultural norms have not shaped the policy outcomes, they contribute to donation results – importantly, not through institutions but through social networks. I will interview medical professionals and procurement teams to understand the mobilization for organ donation.
Wan-Zi Lu is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology. She has completed a set of studies on how traditional authority structures shape democratization and financialization across indigenous peoples in Taiwan. Her current research traces the development of regulatory frameworks for organ donation in a number of East Asian polities to understand why shared cultural norms produced different policies of and practices in moralized markets.