In Defense of the Concept of Public Good

Abstract

Some authors argue that the concept of public good is nothing but a social construct because different economists seem to create different definitions for the concept and because different countries treat different services as public goods. I collect and analyze eighteen different terms used by economists in order to point to public good aspects. I reduce the eighteen terms to two crucial ones which allow me to affirm that the ideal concept of public good points to an opportunity for collective gain but that the nonexclusion possibility makes optimal financing difficult. The lack of optimal financing introduces the problem of whether or not the use of coercion (forced payment by means of government-imposed taxes) is justified. Alternatively, it raises the question of whether or not injustices created by the private provision of public goods (discrimination in club goods) demand governmental supervision of private initiatives with public goods. These questions introduce value judgements captured by the concept of merit good. Therefore, realizing the potential for gain, present in public goods, has no unique solution and requires ethical and political judgements. However, the presence of socio-political considerations in the realization of public goods does not invalidate the concept of public good itself, which consists of pointing to opportunities for gains by collective action, whether that collective action is privately or governmentally organized. This chapter, thus, supports Hegel's claims about the desirability and the possibility of fruitfully mobilizing the government in order to deal with public goods or externalities.