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Of course I know what the term means. The point is that the term is mushy enough to be meaningless in all but the most trivial of applications. Nobody thinks
by jbooth 16y ago
Of course I know what the term means. The point is that the term is mushy enough to be meaningless in all but the most trivial of applications. Nobody thinks the government should be competing with Sam's club in the retail breakfast cereal market. If something's being debated, it's almost by definition in the gray area.
"I don't think the government should produce private goods" means effectively nothing.
- yummyfajitas 16y agoDude, just apply the definition. No honest person is debating that SS/medicare are private goods, they are only debating whether the government should pay for them anyway. Just to avoid being accused of handwaving, I'll write out the obvious reasoning explicitly. Medicare: Rivalrous (the same dollar can't reimburse the doctor for your benefits and mine) and excludible (if you don't pay, they don't reimburse the doctor). Private good. SS: Rivalrous (you and I can't both spend an SS check) and excludible (if you don't pay in while young, they don't send you a check when you are old). Private good. Should I do the same thing for cheese fries or can you figure out for yourself that cheese fries are also a private good?
- hugh3 16y agoI agree with you, but I'm gonna argue the other side right now since I see an objection to that particular line of argument. Suppose I now say that welfare is a public good since without it we'd have poor folks either rioting or dying in the streets. I benefit from that and so do you. Another line-blurring example: food in prison is a private good in that only one prisoner can eat it; however I don't have a problem with the government paying for that.
- lotharbot 16y agoOne could argue that welfare benefits the public, but that is not the same as saying welfare checks are public goods. It's a technical term that doesn't say anything about the external benefits to the public. Welfare checks are private goods, because if the funds go into one person's check the same funds can't also go into another person's check (rivalrous) and the checks can be sent to some people but not others (excludable). Food and clothing for prisoners or for military personnel are also private goods, though they're better categorized as components of the public goods of "functional criminal justice system" and "military protection".
- hugh3 16y agoSo we appear to be in blurry-definitionland. Meals for prisoners are private goods which are part of the public good "functional criminal justice system". Welfare checks for unemployed bums are private goods which are part of the public good "no dead hobos on lawns".
- lotharbot 16y ago"no dead hobos on lawns" is not a good, it's a service. Various goods might contribute to that service, such as "homeless shelters" and "welfare checks". I suppose "functional criminal justice system" is actually a service, as well, while "prison" is a good.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- steamer25 16y agoI would absolutely be in favor of prisoners (sentenced via due process) earning their own board. E.g., washing government vehicles, cleaning highways, hauling landscaping materials for erosion control projects at state parks, etc. etc.
- jbooth 16y ago"Apply the definition"? It's a qualitative term in a qualitative field. Everything in economics is about quantifying your qualitative assumptions of things. Which is probably the best way to study the matter. But don't miss the forest for the trees here. Your problem is with entitlements, not some grander definition of public/private goods. I mean, if I could convince you SS was a public good, it wouldn't change your opinion, right?
- jobeirne 16y ago> I mean, if I could convince you SS was a public good, it wouldn't change your opinion, right? Yeah, it would, though I strongly doubt you can do that given the definition of ``public good.''