Are Roads Public Goods, Club Goods, Private Goods, or Common Pools?

Abstract

An examination of the history of roads in England demonstrates that roads are never Samuelsonian public goods, and that free access roads are really common pools. In some institutional environments, however, many roads were club goods maintained through reciprocal arrangements. Private toll roads arose where possible but collecting tolls on “public” roads was a government prerogative. Nonetheless, as government action undermined club-good arrangements, local groups petitioned for and received permission to finance maintenance with tolls. Turnpike trusts managed these toll roads, but they were not “private” roads because significant regulations including government-mandated tolls and exemptions were imposed, based on political rather than economic considerations. Profit taking also was not allowed so incentives for trustees to monitor workers were weak, corruption was rampant, and many trusts ultimately failed. In the absence of regulatory constraints there is little doubt that private roads would have been widespread.