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Econ: What are Public Goods? 3 Views
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Description:
What are Public Goods? All members of a society use public goods and the use of these goods by one person doesn’t have any effect on another member’s ability to use them. Public goods are things like parks and the military.
Transcript
- 00:00
And finance Allah shmoop What are public goods order Well
- 00:07
the public has a lot of things mostly opinions but
- 00:10
also goods like public goods or goods or services that
- 00:13
all people of society have access to which are created
- 00:16
for public benefit rather than profit If you want to
Full Transcript
- 00:19
get all technical about it well public goods are non
- 00:22
excludable and non rivalrous Well non exclude ability means that
- 00:28
nobody is excluded Even if someone didn't cough up any
- 00:31
cash to receive the benefits of that good whether you
- 00:33
paid your taxes or not you can go to the
- 00:35
park into the library Didn't pay Doesn't matter We'LL Non
- 00:39
rival risk means that more and more people can consume
- 00:42
the good without additional costs and without preventing others from
- 00:46
consuming the good There Yeah just because your breathing the
- 00:50
air While that doesn't stop your neighbor from doing so
- 00:52
you can take your dog on a walk in the
- 00:54
park which won't stop others from indulging in the parks
- 00:57
Um you know Park nous well to contrast what's excludable
- 01:01
and rivalrous I e The opposite of a public good
- 01:04
Well a private good like How about roller coasters A
- 01:07
roller coaster is rival risk since there can be only
- 01:10
so many people on the roller coaster at once if
- 01:13
the theme park is conforming Teo you know safety regulations
- 01:16
Anyway The roller coaster is also excludable because well you
- 01:20
have to pay to get into the theme park to
- 01:22
ride the roller coaster because well theme parks care about
- 01:25
profit Roller coasters are definitely private goods Will public good
- 01:29
sound pretty great right There's something you topic about them
- 01:33
Everyone can use them at the same time and without
- 01:35
paying a cent But they have their fair share of
- 01:38
problems just like private goods The biggest issue is the
- 01:40
free rider problem which is well when people take advantage
- 01:44
of public goods by not paying their fair share of
- 01:46
the good For instance if you've ever watched a firework
- 01:49
show from afar for free when it cost money to
- 01:51
get closer well then you're a free rider You benefited
- 01:55
from the fireworks show but you didn't pay for it
- 01:57
and you couldn't be excluded from watch Sing it since
- 02:00
it's like you know in the sky well when people
- 02:03
get the benefits without having to pay for the costs
- 02:05
of that benefit Many goods and services that people would
- 02:08
otherwise be willing to pay for will disappear or never
- 02:11
make it to the market at all Take our fireworks
- 02:13
Example If everybody decided to free ride and watch the
- 02:16
fireworks show from a bit farther away for free and
- 02:19
nobody bought tickets to that firework show well then they're
- 02:22
probably not going to be one next year The moral
- 02:24
of the story while too much free riding kills firework
- 02:28
shows and you know other goods which is why exclude
- 02:31
ability and property lines are so important at least important
- 02:34
to respect A theme park wouldn't last long if there
- 02:37
wasn't a wall surrounding it and you could just walk
- 02:40
in and ride the roller coasters for free The free
- 02:42
rider problem goes hand in hand with positive externalities like
- 02:46
positive externalities air benefits somebody gets without paying for them
- 02:50
and without necessarily even asking for them For instance if
- 02:54
you love firework shows and happen to have a great
- 02:56
view of firework show from your backyard while you just
- 02:58
got a positive externality the fireworks show producer can't charge
- 03:02
you for viewing the show from your own backyard Maybe
- 03:05
there would be more firework shows if they could make
- 03:08
them mohr excludable reducing the positive vibes or positive externalities
- 03:13
that they're given out for free right So what makes
- 03:15
our public goods like parks and libraries work well The
- 03:19
free rider problem is avoided because those goods are typically
- 03:21
paid for by the government which means it's funded by
- 03:23
taxes And who pays taxes You D'Oh The public does
- 03:27
anyway the people who work which means free riding isn't
- 03:30
a problem because most people are already paying for the
- 03:33
parks and libraries Oh whether they like it or not
- 03:35
People who aren't paying taxes are free riding when they
- 03:39
hang out in the park in the library But because
- 03:41
the numbers of free riders air so few well it
- 03:43
doesn't really affect the funding of those goods And at
- 03:46
least as a present it's not problematic enough to make
- 03:49
libraries and parks shut down But we'LL see what the
- 03:52
future holds here What else are you free riding If
- 03:54
you're not paying your fair share of taxes while things
- 03:57
that everyone in the country benefits from like national defense
- 04:00
it's an access to clean air and water Public radio
- 04:04
Yeah that's a freebie to All right Well free riding
- 04:07
That isn't Okay Well the free riding Nicolas Cage does 00:04:10.095 --> [endTime] in Ghost Rider Yeah So not Okay Hi
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