Psychology 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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Paul A. Samuelson on Collective Goods - Dictionary of Arguments
Rothbard III 1031 Collective goods/Samuelson/Rothbard: Many attempts have been made (…), to salvage the concept of the "collective" good, to provide a seemingly ironclad, scientific justification for government operations. Samuelson: In recent years, Professor Samuelson has offered his own definition of "collective consumption goods," in a so-called "pure" theory of government expenditures. Def Collective consumption goods/Samuelson: Collective consumption goodss according to Samuelson, are those "which all enjoy in common in the sense that each individual's consumption of such a good leads to no subtraction from any other individual's consumption of that good." For some reason, these are supposed to be the proper goods (or at least these) for government, rather than the free market, to provide.(1) VsSamuelson: Samuelson's category has been attacked with due severity. St. Enke(2), for example, pointed out that most governmental services simply do not fit Samuelson's classification - including highways, libraries, judicial services, police, fire, hospitals, and military protection. In fact, we may go further and state that no goods would ever fit into Samuelson's category of "collective consumption goods." >Collective goods/Rothbard, >Social goods. 1. Paul A. Samuelson, "The Pure Theory of Public Expenditures," Review ofEconomics and statistics, November, 1954, pp. 387-89. 2. Stephen Enke, "More on the Misuse of Mathematics in Economics: A Rejoinder," Review of Economics and statistics, May, 1955, pp. 131-33 ; Julius Margolis, "A Comment On the Pure Theory of Public Expenditures," Review of Economics and statistics, November, 19 5 5, 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. |
EconSamu I Paul A. Samuelson The foundations of economic analysis Cambridge 1947 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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> Counter arguments against Samuelson
> Counter arguments in relation to Collective Goods
