Public Goods in Everyday Life - Boston University

Public Goods in Everyday Life

By June Sekera

A GDAE Teaching Module on Social and Environmental Issues in Economics

Global Development And Environment Institute Tufts University

Medford, MA 02155

Copyright ? June Sekera

Reproduced by permission. Copyright release is hereby granted for instructors to copy this module for instructional purposes. Students may also download the reading directly from

Comments and feedback from course use are welcomed: Global Development And Environment Institute Tufts University Somerville, MA 02144

E-mail: gdae@tufts.edu

PUBLIC GOODS IN EVERYDAY LIFE

"The history of civilization is a history of public goods... The more complex the civilization the greater the number of public goods that needed to be provided. Ours is far and away the most complex civilization humanity has ever developed. So its need for public goods ? and goods with public goods aspects, such as education and health ? is extraordinarily large. The institutions that have historically provided public goods are states. But it is unclear whether today's states can ? or will be allowed to ? provide the goods we now demand."1

-Martin Wolf, Financial Times

1 Martin Wolf, "The World's Hunger for Public Goods", Financial Times, January 24, 2012.

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PUBLIC GOODS IN EVERYDAY LIFE

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................4

1.1 TEACHING OBJECTIVES: ......................................................................................................................4

2. SESSION 1: WHAT ARE PUBLIC GOODS? ...........................................................4

2.1 DEFINING PUBLIC GOODS....................................................................................................................4 2.2 TYPES OF PUBLIC GOODS ....................................................................................................................5 2.3 THE INVISIBILITY OF PUBLIC GOODS ..................................................................................................6

3. SESSION 2: SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC GOODS .........................7

3.1 PUBLIC GOODS VS NATURAL GOODS ..................................................................................................7 3.2 PUBLIC GOODS VARY OVER TIME AND BY PLACE............................................................................10 3.3 EDUCATION: "THE SOCIALIZATION OF AN INDUSTRY" .....................................................................10 3.4 PUBLIC GOODS VS "THE COMMONS".................................................................................................11

4. SESSION 3: HOW ARE PUBLIC GOODS CREATED AND PAID FOR? .........11

4.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................11 4.2 COLLECTIVE CHOICE .........................................................................................................................13 4.4 OPTIONAL SECTION: PUBLIC SECTOR EFFICIENCY ...........................................................................16

Efficiencies of the public system .........................................................................................................16

5. SESSION 4: PUBLIC GOODS AND DEMOCRACY .............................................17

5.1 RULE OF LAW ....................................................................................................................................17 5.2 THE POLITY AND SOVEREIGNTY .......................................................................................................19

Polity ...................................................................................................................................................20 Sovereignty .......................................................................................................................................... 20

6. SESSION 5: CAPSTONE EXERCISE ......................................................................24

6.1 PUBLIC GOODS AND GRAND CHALLENGES .......................................................................................24

7. REFERENCES ............................................................................................................26 8. APPENDIX 1................................................................................................................28

OPTIONAL STUDENT EXERCISE: A DAY IN YOUR LIFE...........................................................................28

9. APPENDIX 2................................................................................................................29

9.1 THE MID-20TH CENTURY DEFINITION OF PUBLIC GOODS .................................................................29 9.2 CRITIQUES OF THE STANDARD DEFINITION ......................................................................................31 9.3 PLURALIST COMMENTARY ................................................................................................................32 9.4 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................34

10. APPENDIX 3..............................................................................................................35

10.1 LOOKING BACK- A BRIEF HISTORY OF PUBLIC GOODS..................................................................35 10.2 WHERE DID THE ECONOMICS TEXTBOOK DEFINITION OF PUBLIC GOODS COME FROM? .................36

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PUBLIC GOODS IN EVERYDAY LIFE

1. INTRODUCTION

This teaching module offers a framework for understanding "public goods" as a concept in economics and as real-world goods and services. The framework draws on and builds forward from "historical school" public economics theory, which has been lost to mainstream economics teaching. In the approach presented here, concepts are empirically-based and contemporary. Pivotal ideas are connected to 21st century real-world evidence and challenges. The module provides a pragmatic understanding of public goods, enabling students with or without a background in economics to consider and appreciate public goods in the context of their daily lives. The module is suitable for use in courses in economics, sociology, political science, public law, social history and related fields.

1.1 Teaching Objectives:

? Students will arrive at a clear idea of the nature, source and construction of public goods from a functional economic systems perspective.

? Students will comprehend the impact of public goods on their daily lives. ? Students will be able to use pivotal public goods concepts to think about ways to address

real-world collective needs and public policy.

The module is designed as a teaching tool for classroom use. It contains five classroom sessions with optional sub-sections. Appendices contain an optional student exercise, and a brief history of the development of the concept of public goods in economics. The module and its sub-sections can be adopted in whole or in part.

The format is designed to be interactive and accessible, with diagrams, text boxes, discussion questions and illustrations to help students grasp concepts and applications. It is interlaced with exercises that take students from identifying public goods in their daily lives to a capstone challenge asking students to apply what they have learned to real-world issues.

2. SESSION 1: WHAT ARE PUBLIC GOODS?

2.1 Defining Public Goods

The topic of this module is "public goods" - both in concept and concretely in daily life. Public goods are "...things [that] do not lend themselves to [private] production, purchase and sale. They must be provided for everyone if they are to be provided for anyone, and they must be paid for collectively or they cannot be had at all."2 This definition, by John K. Galbraith, is similar but not identical to other definitions that are put forward in economic theory.

Definitions matter, as you will see; if health care, libraries, schools, roadways, and drinking water are considered to be public goods they will be produced by governments. If they are considered to

2 John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society, 1958, p 111.

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