This document discusses the classification of goods and resources as private, public, common, or natural monopolies based on whether they are excludable and rival. It also examines issues that can arise with the provision of public goods and management of common resources, such as the free rider problem, tragedy of the commons, and potential solutions like property rights and quotas. Specific examples discussed include surveillance satellites, fish stocks, and proposals for high-speed rail in the US.

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Should America build a high-speed
rail network like Europe’s?

3. © 2013 Pearson
11
When you have completed your
study of this chapter, you will be able to
1 Distinguish among private goods, public goods, and
common resources.
2 Explain the free-rider problem and how public provision
might help to overcome it and deliver an efficient quantity
of public goods.
3 Explain the tragedy of the commons and review its
possible solutions.
CHAPTER CHECKLIST
Public Goods and
Common Resources

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11.1 CLASSIFYING GOODS AND RESOURCES
What is the essential difference between:
• A city police department and Brink’s security
• Fish in the Pacific Ocean and fish in a fish farm
• A live concert and a concert on television
These, and all goods and services, can be classified
according to whether they are excludable or
nonexcludable and rival or nonrival.

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Excludable
A good, service, or resource is excludable if it is
possible to prevent a person from enjoying its benefits.
A good, service, or resource is nonexcludable if it is
impossible to prevent a person from benefiting from it.
11.1 CLASSIFYING GOODS AND RESOURCES

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Examples of excludable items are
• The security services of Brink’s
• Fish in a fish farm
• A live concert
Examples of nonexcludable items are
• The services of the city police department
• Fish in the Pacific Ocean
• A concert on network television
11.1 CLASSIFYING GOODS AND RESOURCES

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11.1 CLASSIFYING GOODS AND RESOURCES
Rival
A good, service, or resource is rival if its use by one
person decreases the quantity available to someone
else.
A good, service, or resource is nonrival if its use by
one person does not decrease the quantity available to
someone else.

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Examples of rival items are
• The services of Brink’s security
• Fish both in ocean and in a fish farm
• A seat at a live concert
Examples of nonrival items are
• The protection provided by a city police
department
• A concert on network television
11.1 CLASSIFYING GOODS AND RESOURCES

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11.1 CLASSIFYING GOODS AND RESOURCES
Private Goods
A private good is a good or service that can be
consumed by only one person at a time and only by
those people who have bought it or own it.
A private good is both rival and excludable.
For example, a can of coke.
A Fourfold Classification

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11.1 CLASSIFYING GOODS AND RESOURCES
Public Goods
A public good is a good or service that can be
consumed simultaneously by everyone and no one can
be excluded from enjoying its benefits.
It is both nonrival and nonexcludable.
For example, a flood-control levee.

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11.1 CLASSIFYING GOODS AND RESOURCES
Common Resources
A common resource is a resource that can be used
only once but no one can be prevented from using what
is available.
It is both rival and nonexcludable.
For example, fish in the Pacific Ocean.

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11.1 CLASSIFYING GOODS AND RESOURCES
Natural Monopoly Goods
A good or service that is nonrival but excludable is
produced by a natural monopoly.
A natural monopoly is a firm that produces at lower cost
than two or more firms can.

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Figure 11.1 shows this fourfold classification of goods
and services.
11.1 CLASSIFYING GOODS AND RESOURCES

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Public goods create a free-rider problem.
A free rider is a person who enjoys the benefits of a
good or service without paying for it.
Because of the free-rider problem, the market would
provide too small a quantity of a public good.
To produce the efficient quantity, government action is
required.
The Free-Rider Problem
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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The benefit a public good provides is the value of its
services.
Because security lights in a common parking area are
nonrival and nonexcludable, they are a public good.
• Everyone consumes the same quantity of them.
To find the economy-wide value of the security lights,
we add together the marginal benefits of everyone who
benefits from them.
The Marginal Benefit from a Public Good
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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Figure 11.2 shows how to
find an economy’s MSB
curve.
Lisa’s marginal benefit curve
is MBL.
The MSB curve for the
economy is the vertical sum
of the marginal benefit
curves of everyone in the
economy—Lisa and Max.
Max’s marginal benefit curve
is MBM.
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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Marginal cost increases as the quantity of a public good
produced increases—the principle of increasing
marginal cost.
So the marginal cost curve of public good slopes
upward.
The Marginal Cost of a Public Good
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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The Efficient Quantity of a Public Good
Resources are used efficiently if marginal benefit equals
marginal cost.
If marginal benefit exceeds marginal cost, resources can
be used more efficiently by increasing the quantity
produced.
If marginal cost exceeds marginal benefit, resources can
be used more efficiently by decreasing the quantity
produced.
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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Figure 11.3 shows the
efficient quantity of a public
good—surveillance satellites.
1. If MSB exceeds MSC, an
increase in the quantity will
make resource use more
efficient.
2. If MSC exceeds MSB, a
decrease in the quantity
will make resource use
more efficient.
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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3. If MSB equals MSC,
resource use is efficient.
4. The efficient quantity is
200 satellites.
5. Private provision leads to
underproduction—in the
extreme, to zero production.
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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No one would have an incentive to buy his or her share
of the satellite system—the free-rider problem.
So a private firm would not supply satellites.
Private Provision: Underproduction
The political process determines the quantity of a
public good provided—this quantity might be efficient
or inefficient.
Public Provision: Efficient Production
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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Figure 11.4(a) shows the
preferences of two political
parties in an election.
1. Doves would like to provide
100 satellites.
2. The Hawks would like to
provide 300 satellites.
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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Figure 11.4(b) shows an
efficient political outcome.
3. The political outcome is
200 satellites because,
unless each party
proposes 200 satellites,
the other party can beat it
in the election.
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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The principle of minimum differentiation is the
tendency for competitors to make themselves identical
to appeal to the maximum number of clients or voters.
The Principle of Minimum Differentiation
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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Bureaucrats translate the choices of politicians into
programs and control the day-to-day activities that
deliver public goods.
The behavior of bureaucrats modifies the political
outcome.
Public Provision: Overproduction
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND FREE-RIDER PROBLEM11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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Objective of Bureaucrats
The bureau’s goal is to
maximize its budget.
1. The efficient quantity is 200
satellites.
If the bureau is successful in the
pursuit of its goal, the politicians
provide 300 satellites.
2. With 300 satellites, marginal
cost exceeds marginal
benefit.
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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3. With 300 satellites,
inefficient overproduction
occurs.
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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Why don’t the politicians block the bureaucrats?
Rational Ignorance
Rational choice balances marginal benefit and
marginal cost.
An implication of rational choice is rational ignorance.
Rational Ignorance is the decision not to acquire
information because the marginal cost of doing so
exceeds the expected marginal benefit.
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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Voter preferences for public goods drive the growth of
government.
The demand for national and personal security and the
demand for other public goods are income elastic.
As incomes increase, the demand for these services
increases by a larger percentage than the increase in
income.
Why Government Is Large and Growing
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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Part of the reason why government is large is
• Inefficient overprovision of public goods
• Voters’ rational ignorance
There is no easy fix for this problem.
Our ever-growing demand for education and health-
care services contribute to the large and growing scale
of government.
11.2 PUBLIC GOODS AND THE FREE-RIDER PROBLEM

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11.3 COMMON RESOURCES
The tragedy of the commons is the absence of
incentives to prevent the overuse and depletion of a
commonly owned resource.
Examples include the Atlantic Ocean cod stocks, South
Pacific whales, and the quality of the earth’s
atmosphere.
The traditional example from which the term derives is
the common grazing land surrounding middle-age
villages.

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Figure 11.6 illustrates the
relationship between the
fish stock and the
sustainable catch.
The maximum sustainable
catch arises from a
balancing of the birth of
new fish from the stock
and the availability of food
to sustain the fish
population.
11.3 COMMON RESOURCES

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If the catch equals the
sustainable catch, the fish
stock remains constant.
If the catch exceeds the
sustainable catch,
overfishing occurs and
the fish stock decreases.
11.3 COMMON RESOURCES

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Figure 11.7 shows why
overfishing occurs.
The market supply curve is
the marginal private cost
curve MC.
The market demand curve is
the marginal social benefit
curve MSB.
1. The market equilibrium.
2. The efficient equilibrium.
11.3 COMMON RESOURCES

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3. Overfishing creates a
deadweight loss.
The equilibrium quantity of
fish is 800,000 tons a year
and overfishing occurs.
Overfishing occurs
because no one takes into
account the effects of
her/his actions on other
users of the resource.
11.3 COMMON RESOURCES

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11.3 COMMON RESOURCES
Using the Commons Efficiently
The efficient use of a common resource requires
marginal cost to equal marginal social benefit.
To use a common resource efficiently, it is necessary to
design an incentive mechanism that confronts users of
the common resources with the marginal external cost
generated.

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Three methods that might be used to achieve the
efficient use of a common resource are
• Property rights
• Production quotas
• Individual transferable quotas (ITQs)
11.3 COMMON RESOURCES

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11.3 COMMON RESOURCES
Property Rights
By assigning property rights, common property becomes
private property.
When someone owns a resource, the owner is
confronted with the full consequences of her/his actions
when using that resource.
The social benefits become the private benefits.

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Figure 11.8 illustrates.
1. With property rights over
the fish, the marginal
private cost of fishing
equals the marginal social
cost,
S = MC = MSC.
2. At the market equilibrium,
the resource is used
efficiently.
11.3 COMMON RESOURCES

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11.3 COMMON RESOURCES
Production Quotas
A production quota is an upper limit to the quantity of a
good that may legally be produced in a specified period.
A production quota can achieve an efficient use of a
common resource if it is set equal to total production at
the quantity at which marginal social benefit equals
marginal cost.
Figure 11.9 illustrates how a production quota works.

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1. A production quota is set
equal to the efficient
quantity.
2. The market equilibrium is
efficient.
But at the market price:
3. Fishers make a profit on
the marginal catch and
4. Have incentive to overfish.
11.3 COMMON RESOURCES

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Individual Transferable Quotas
An individual transferable quota (ITQ) is a
production limit that is assigned to an individual who is
free to transfer the quota to someone else.
A market in ITQs emerges.
The market price of an ITQ is the highest price that
someone is willing to pay for one.
That price equals the marginal social benefit minus the
marginal cost..
11.3 COMMON RESOURCES

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The market price of an ITQ confronts fishers with the full
cost of their catch.
The private marginal cost equals the marginal social cost.
If the efficient quantity of ITQs is assigned, the market
price of a quota confronts resource users with a marginal
cost that equals the external cost at the efficient quantity.
Figure 11.10 illustrates how ITQs work.
11.3 COMMON RESOURCES

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1. The market price of an
ITQ equals the marginal
external cost, so a fisher’s
private cost is
MC + Price of ITQ which
equals MSC.
2. The market equilibrium is
efficient.
11.3 COMMON RESOURCES

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Should America Build a High-Speed Rail
Network like Europe’s?
Train travel in Europe is fast: The 190 miles from Paris to
Brussels takes 1 hour and 20 minutes.
But the 220 miles from Boston to New York City takes 3
hours and 40 minutes.
President Obama says that by 2036, he wants 80 percent of
Americans to be able to go places by train as fast as
Europeans can.
Why is the United States lagging in high-speed rail
transportation? Is there underprovision?
Or do we have the efficient amount of high-speed rail
transportation?
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Should America Build a High-Speed Rail
Network like Europe’s?
The marginal social cost of high-
speed rail track (MSC) is about
$50 million a mile.
The marginal social benefit of
high-speed rail (MSB) depends
on the size and density of the
population.
The efficient quantity of high-
speed track is much greater in
Europe than in
the United States.
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Should America Build a High-Speed Rail
Network like Europe’s?
If the United States installs as
much high-speed rail track as
Europe has, it will be
overprovided and a deadweight
loss will arise.
© 2013 Pearson