Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Collective goods: Collective goods, or public goods, in economics are goods that are non-excludable and non-rivalrous, meaning they can be used by everyone without reducing availability to others.. These goods often require government provision or regulation due to challenges in private market supply and free-rider issues. See also Free-rider, Non-rivalty._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Julius Margolis on Collective Goods - Dictionary of Arguments
Rothbard III 1031 Collective goods/Margolis/Rothbard: Many attempts have been made (…), to salvage the concept of the "collective" good, to provide a seemingly ironclad, scientific justification for government operations. Margolis: [Julius] Margolis(1), for example, while critical of Samuelson, concedes the inclusion of national defense and lighthouses in this category. But "national defense" is surely not an absolute good with only one unit of supply. It consists of specific resources committed in certain definite and concrete ways - and these resources are necessarily scarce. >Collective goods/Samuelson. A ring of defense bases around New York, for example, cuts down the amount possibly available around San Francisco. Furthermore, a lighthouse shines over a certain fixed area only. Not only does a ship within the area prevent others from entering the area at the same time, but also the construction of a lighthouse in one place limits its construction elsewhere. In fact, if a good is really technologically "collective" in Samuelson's sense, it is not a good at all, but a natural condition of human welfare, like air - superabundant to all, and therefore unowned by anyone. Indeed, it is not the lighthouse, but the ocean itself - when the Ianes are not crowded - which is the "collective consumption good," and which therefore remains unowned. Obviously, neither government nor anyone else is normally needed to produce or allocate the ocean.(1) >Collective goods/Rothbard, >Social goods. 1. Julius Margolis, "A Comment On the Pure Theory of Public Expenditures," Review of Economics and statistics, November, 1955, pp. 347-49. In his reply to critics, Samuelson, after hastening to deny any possible implication that he wished to confine the sphere of government to collective goods alone, asserts that his category is really a "polar" concept. Goods in the real world are supposed to be only blends of the "polar extremes" of public and private goods. But these concepts, even in Samuelson's own erms, are decidedly not polar, but exhaustive. Either A's consumption of a good diminishes B's possible consumption, or it does not: these two alternatives are mutually exclusive and exhaust the possibilities. In effect, Samuelson has abandoned his category either as a theoretical or as a practical device. Paul A. Samuelson, "Diagrammatic Exposition of a Theory of Public Expenditure," Review of Economics and statistics, November, 1955, pp. 350-56._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Margolis I Julius Margolis The Public Economy of Urban Communities Abingdon 2015 Rothbard II Murray N. Rothbard Classical Economics. An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Cheltenham 1995 Rothbard III Murray N. Rothbard Man, Economy and State with Power and Market. Study Edition Auburn, Alabama 1962, 1970, 2009 Rothbard IV Murray N. Rothbard The Essential von Mises Auburn, Alabama 1988 Rothbard V Murray N. Rothbard Power and Market: Government and the Economy Kansas City 1977 |
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