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I understand what you're saying. I guess where I get tripped up in that "model" (for lack of a better term) is that when is that NOT the case? In other words,
by djschnei 10y ago
I understand what you're saying. I guess where I get tripped up in that "model" (for lack of a better term) is that when is that NOT the case? In other words, if what you're saying is logically consistent, why can't we just make everything a public good? What's the determining factor that makes this logic work for one thing but not anther?
- pdabbadabba 10y agoI think you may be misunderstanding--because I did not make clear--what I mean by "public good.' I intended to use it in the technical economic sense which covers goods that are non-rivalrous and non-excludable (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good#Terminology.2C_and_types_of_goods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good#Terminology.2C_and...) not the looser 'anything offered by the government' sense. Although there is plenty of room for debate about what is or is not covered by this concept, there are plenty of things that clearly are not (e.g., a factory's widget inventory) and it remains objective: nobody is free to simply 'make' everything a public good in this sense.