The World, Explained · 45 sec
Public good
A small piece of context that makes the wider world easier to read.
The useful idea
- Shared access
product or service that is both non-excludable and non-rivalrous and which is typically provided by a government and paid for through taxation.
- Used simultaneously
A public good must be valuable to more than one user, otherwise, its simultaneous availability to more than one person would be economically irrelevant.
- The free-rider problem
Public goods problems are often closely related to the "free-rider" problem, in which people not paying for the good may continue to access it.
Why this matters
Use Public good as context when interpreting events and claims about the world.
Try this
Use Public good as context when interpreting events and claims about the world.
Test your recall
Which idea belongs to the explanation of Public good?
- Used simultaneously
- Shared access — correct
- The free-rider problem
product or service that is both non-excludable and non-rivalrous and which is typically provided by a government and paid for through taxation.