Public Goods and Common Resources. Introduction We consume many goods without paying: parks, national defense, clean air & water. When goods have no prices,

Public Goods and Common Resources

Introduction

• We consume many goods without paying: parks, national defense, clean air & water.

• When goods have no prices, the market forces that normally allocate resources are absent.

• The private market may fail to provide the socially efficient quantity of such goods.

Characteristics of the Goods

• A good is excludable if a person can be prevented from using it.

• A good is rival in consumption if one person’s use of it diminishes others’ use.

• A public good is a commodity for which use of a good by one agent does not preclude its use by other agents.

Rival in consumption?Yes No

Excludable?

Yes

Private Goods

§ ice-cream cones§ garbage§ congested toll roads

Club Goods

§ fire protection§ cable TV§ uncongested toll

roads

No

Common Resources

§ fish in the ocean§ the environment§ congested nontoll roads

Public Goods

§ national defense§ knowledge§ uncongested nontoll

roads

• A road is which of the four kinds of goods?• Hint: The answer depends on whether the

road is congested or not, and whether it’s a toll road or not. Consider the different cases.

Categorizing roads

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• Rival in consumption? Only if congested. • Excludable? Only if a toll road.

Four possibilities:

Uncongested non-toll road: public good

Uncongested toll road: natural monopoly

Congested non-toll road: common resource

Congested toll road: private good

Answers

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Notes on public vs. private goods

• Private goods can be publicly provided: education, public health program, welfare program

• Public goods can be privately provided: lobbying, protection system, newspaper, The Nature Conservancy

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Free Rider Problem• Public goods and common resources are difficult

for private markets to provide because of the free-rider problem.

• Free rider: a person who receives the benefit of a good but avoids paying for it – If good is not excludable, people have incentive to be

free riders, because firms cannot prevent non-payers from consuming the good.

• Result: The good is not produced, even if buyers collectively value the good higher than the cost of providing it.

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The Tragedy of the Commons

• A parable that illustrates why common resources get used more than is socially desirable.

• Setting: a medieval town where sheep graze on common land.

• As the population grows, the # of sheep grows.

• The amount of land is fixed, the grass begins to disappear from overgrazing.

• The private incentives (using the land for free) outweigh the social incentives (using it carefully).

• Result: People can no longer raise sheep.

EXTERNALITIES 14

Easter Island Mystery

• “The stone images at first caused us to be struck with astonishment, because we could not comprehend how it was possible that these people, who are devoid of heavy thick timber for making any machines, as well as strong ropes, nevertheless had been able to erect such images, which were fully 30 feet high and thick in proportion.” –Jacob Reggeveen

EXTERNALITIES 15

Private Solutions to Externalities and Common Resources

• The Coase theorem: If private parties can costlessly bargain over the allocation of resources, they can solve the externalities problem on their own by given property rights.

EXTERNALITIES 16

The Coase Theorem: An ExampleDick owns a dog named Spot. Negative externality: Spot’s barking disturbs Jane, Dick’s neighbor. The socially efficient outcome maximizes Dick’s + Jane’s well-being. – If Dick values having Spot more

than Jane values peace & quiet, the dog should stay.

Coase theorem: The private market will reach the efficient outcome on its own…

EXTERNALITIES 17

The Coase Theorem: An Example• CASE 1:

Dick has the right to keep Spot. Benefit to Dick of having Spot = $500Cost to Jane of Spot’s barking = $800

• Socially efficient outcome: Spot goes bye-bye.

• Private outcome: Jane pays Dick $600 to get rid of Spot, both Jane and Dick are better off.

• Private outcome = efficient outcome.

EXTERNALITIES 18

The Coase Theorem: An Example• CASE 2:

Dick has the right to keep Spot. Benefit to Dick of having Spot = $1000Cost to Jane of Spot’s barking = $800

• Socially efficient outcome: See Spot stay.

• Private outcome: Jane not willing to pay more than $800, Dick not willing to accept less than $1000, so Spot stays.

• Private outcome = efficient outcome.

EXTERNALITIES 19

The Coase Theorem: An Example• CASE 3:

Jane has the legal right to peace & quiet. Benefit to Dick of having Spot = $800Cost to Jane of Spot’s barking = $500

• Socially efficient outcome: Dick keeps Spot.

• Private outcome: Dick pays Jane $600 to put up with Spot’s barking.

• Private outcome = efficient outcome.

The private market achieves the efficient outcome regardless of the initial distribution of rights.

The private market achieves the efficient outcome regardless of the initial distribution of rights.

Samuelson Rule

• At the optimal level of the public good the sum of consumers’ MB from the public good is set equal to its MC.

Benefit

Quantity

Person A

Benefit

Quantity

Person B

Benefit

Quantity

Market Demand

o

a

o

b

oaob

oa+ob MC

Collectively, the 1000 residents of Green Valley value swimming in Blue Lake at $100,000.

A nearby factory pollutes the lake water, and would have to pay $50,000 for non-polluting equipment.

A. Describe a Coase-like private solution.

B. Can you think of any reasons why this solution might not work in the real world?

Applying Coase

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Why Private Solutions Do Not Always Work1. Transaction costs:

The costs parties incur in the process of agreeing to and following through on a bargain.These costs may make it impossible to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.

2. Stubbornness: Even if a beneficial agreement is possible, each party may hold out for a better deal.

3. Coordination problems:If # of parties is very large, coordinating them may be costly, difficult, or impossible.