Review the definition of a public good before answering this – not all publicly provided goods are public goods. Parks, for example, are both rival and excludable – just think about Maroon Bells. If your good is provided both privately and publicly (recreation centers for example) it almost certainly is not a Public Good.
Think of an example of a Public Good (not a publicly provided good, but a Public Good using the definition from the chapter.)
- What are the costs of providing the good?
- What are the benefits?
- Is there another way to have the good provided?
- Did this chapter cause you to think of Public Goods differently? In what way?
An alternative accepted response to this Reflection, if you prefer, answer this question from the other direction:
The reverse of this question is to think about a good that is provided publicly, but is not a Public Good.
- How else could it be provided?
- Why do we choose to provide it publicly?
- Would you continue to provide it publicly?
- Why or why not? (Denver-Boulder turnpike is an interesting discussion here.)
National Defense is a Public Good. In the USA the costs for national defense are incredibly high. In 2017, the US government spent $744 billion on National Defense, which worked out to $2,284 per person. The USA spends the most on National Defense in the world. In fact it spends more than the next 11 countries combined. Those 11 countries are China, India, Russia, UK, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Australia – combined.
The benefits of national defense are many and everyone benefits from national defense. Everyone in America should feel safe from foreign aggressors. The peace aids trade and commerce and can help form alliances.
I am not sure there is a way to provide national defense other than through the organization of government. Private firms would not want to spend a large amount of their profits to form a military, and this wouldn’t protect all citizens once formed. Only the government can provide this public good.
The chapter made me think a little differently about public goods, and how I should take advantage of them more. Specifically state and national parks, as well as local parks. They are great public things to enjoy, our tax dollars work hard to keep them nice.
Dude.World 