Theory Of Public Goods Research Articles

Advantageous Leadership in Public Good Provision: The Case of an Endogenous Contribution Technology

From the perspective of standard public good theory the total amount of greenhouse gas mitigation (or public good supply in general) will be lower in a leader-follower game than in a simultaneous Nash game so that strategic leadership is disadvantageous for climate policy. We show that this need no longer be true when the leading country has the option to employ a technology by which it can reduce its abatement costs and thus improve the productivity of its contribution technology. Our general result is illustrated by an example with Cobb-Douglas preferences and, finally, an empirical application to global climate policy is briefly discussed.

全球公共物品供给与新兴大国参与—基于“非纯公共物品”概念的分析 / Global Public Goods and The Role of Emerging Power: Considering the Concept of Impure Public Goods

现有关于国际公共物品的论述过度关注“公益”性质，相对忽视国家特别是核心国家作为供给主体的主动地位及其战略考量。事实上，核心国家在提供各种国际公共物品时已经考虑到他国“搭便车”的可能性，纳入对外供给与消费模式设计。中国关于“欢迎周边国家搭便车”的提法可以视为此类战略动向的最新回应。为此，有必要重新审视原有理论，理解“搭便车”行为的可能性与现实性，从“非纯公共物品”角度出发讨论国际公共物品的推动因素以及运作机制。作为新兴大国，中国应该明确战略重点，注重“供给”与“营销”相互配合，创设或创新具体形式，提高国际公共物品供给效率与精致程度。 The existing analysis of global public goods over-emphasizes the significance of public. Great power as a main provider has played an active role in these strategic initiatives, which may be ignored. In fact, main power has thought about the possible free-riders when providing public goods and making its foreign strategic plan. China’s announcement to “welcome the neighbouring countries to be a free-rider and benefit from China’s rise” is a good example. It is necessary to think about the theory of public goods and take another look at the free-riding phenomenon. The concept of impure public goods may be useful and effective when we understand the reason why global public goods are being provided and are relatively efficient. As an emerging power, China should have a clear strategy on global public goods with a possible “marketing” viewpoint, including more initiatives and specific measures, so that the global public goods provision may be more diverse and well-planned.

The Retreat of Public Research and Its Adverse Consequences on Innovation

Does it matter whether research is conducted by the private business rather than in universities or government research centres? While most of the attention of science and innovation policy in the last decades has explored the relevance of the interconnections between public and business players in enhancing knowledge-based societies, a major trend has been ignored: both the quota of public R&D and its share over the total R&D investment has shrunk in most OECD countries. As a result, a larger fraction of knowledge is today generated in the private sector. We argue that this is a major problem since public research and private research differ along a number of characteristics, e.g. public access, potential for future technological innovations, criteria of resource allocation. This trend can have adverse implications for long-term innovation and economic welfare in our societies. Through the lens of the public goods theory and of the sector of funding and execution of R&D for the period 1981-2012 we try to explain why.

Two Generations, Two Interventions in One of the World’s Most-Failed States: The United States, Kenya and Ethiopia in Somalia

In 1992, more than 25,000 United States forces landed in Somalia as part of a 37,000-strong United Nations Task Force (UNITAF) operation. In 2011, a combined total of 8000+ Kenyan and Ethiopian forces were ordered into Somalia. This article demonstrates that American soldiers were deployed to Somalia in the early days of a post-Cold War world, largely as a foreign policy experiment about how to deal with the threats ‘small states’ posed in a new world order. It is maintained that Kenyan and Ethiopian soldiers were deployed to Somalia to deal with some of the very threats American foreign policymakers had identified almost two decades earlier, from refugees to terrorism. To conclude, the article uses public goods theory to contend that military interventions that are ostensibly peacekeeping in nature can be inherently inadequate because ‘self-interest works against the interests of the collective’ (Bobrow and Boyer, 1997: 726). Accordingly, America’s intervention in Somalia between 1992 and 1994 failed to remedy adequately the circumstances and concerns which spawned the perceived need for Kenyan and Ethiopian forces to intervene in Somalia a generation later, in 2011. Unfortunately for Kenyan and Ethiopian soldiers, Somalia’s politicians and political processes might relegate them to realizing little more success than their American predecessors.

The Merits of Merit Goods: Local Journalism and Public Policy in a Time of Austerity

Abstract Local journalism is often categorized by policymakers and academics as what neoclassical economists call a public good. The theory of public goods is used to describe journalism's nonrivalrous and nonexcludable characteristics and explain its positive externalities. Challenging this, I argue that the discourse of public goods is insufficient to fully capture the social democratic importance of local journalism. In its place, I call for a shift to thinking about local news as a merit good. Positioning local news as a merit good gives political economic leverage for increased regulatory support and encourages efforts to ensure the sustainability of local journalism.

The Merits of Merit Goods: Local Journalism and Public Policy in a Time of Austerity

Abstract Local journalism is often categorized by policymakers and academics as what neoclassical economists call a public good. The theory of public goods is used to describe journalism's nonrivalrous and nonexcludable characteristics and explain its positive externalities. Challenging this, I argue that the discourse of public goods is insufficient to fully capture the social democratic importance of local journalism. In its place, I call for a shift to thinking about local news as a merit good. Positioning local news as a merit good gives political economic leverage for increased regulatory support and encourages efforts to ensure the sustainability of local journalism.

Фінансова децентралізація у контексті теорії суспільних благ

Фінансова децентралізація у контексті теорії суспільних благ

A theory of global public goods and their provisions

This paper develops a general theory of a global public good and its optimal provision. In a national public good problem that researchers have long been acquainted with, government taxation and public expenditure are an inevitable tool for an optimal provision. This paper shows that an efficient provision of a truly global public good through public taxation and expenditure becomes unattainable because of nationally disparate incentives, especially given large uncertainties about the future. This paper describes two alternative approaches. One is a technological solution, which is a high promise but has unresolved issues of uncertainties with regard to developments of necessary technologies. The other is an adaptation framework. This paper shows that the provision of a truly global public good becomes manageable through a framework of adaptation strategies as it overcomes both divergent national interests and uncertainties with regard to needed technologies. Adaptation strategies would unfold triggered by changes in private incentives over a long-term time horizon in a private–public partnership. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Clinical Trial Data as Public Goods: Fair Trade and the Virtual Knowledge Bank as a Solution to the Free Rider Problem - A Framework for the Promotion of Innovation by Facilitation of Clinical Trial Data Sharing among Biopharmaceutical Companies in the Era of Omics and Big Data

Background: Knowledge in the era of Omics and Big Data has been increasingly conceptualized as a public good. Sharing of de-identified patient data has been advocated as a means to increase confidence and public trust in the results of clinical trials. On the other hand, research has shown that the current research and development model of the biopharmaceutical industry has reached its innovation capacity. In response to that, the biopharmaceutical industry has adopted open innovation practices, with sharing of clinical trial data being among the most interesting ones. However, due to the free rider problem, clinical trial data sharing among biopharmaceutical companies could undermine their innovativeness. Method: Based on the theory of public goods, we have developed a commons arrangement and devised a model, which enables secure and fair clinical trial data sharing over a Virtual Knowledge Bank based on a web platform. Our model uses data as a virtual currency and treats knowledge as a club good. Results: Fair sharing of clinical trial data over the Virtual Knowledge Bank has positive effects on the innovation capacity of the biopharmaceutical industry without compromising the intellectual rights, proprietary interests and competitiveness of the latter. Conclusion: The Virtual Knowledge Bank is a sustainable and self-expanding model for secure and fair clinical trial data sharing that allows for sharing of clinical trial data, while at the same time it increases the innovation capacity of the biopharmaceutical industry.

Paul Samuelson on Public Goods: The Road to Nihilism

This article is an analytical history of Paul Samuelson's writings on the theory of public goods and the role of government. We examine Samuelson's scholarly work from “The Pure Theory of Public Expenditure” (1954) to “Pure Theory of Public Expenditure and Taxation” (1969). We also briefly consider his treatment of public expenditure in Economics: An Introductory Analysis over the same period. We find that from the beginning of his career to the end of the 1960s Samuelson moved from optimism that a new age of scientific progress in economics was imminent to a view so pessimistic that he described it as nihilistic. This suggests that Samuelson's project of mathematizing and formalizing economic theory was a scientific failure.

Sustainability in Hunting Licence Systems of Japan and South Korea

AbstractThis paper compares the different terrestrial hunting (licence) systems of Japan and South Korea. In order to test their sustainable resource use the silvicultural model and categories by Josef Hackl, Felix Heckl, Martin Forstner, Wolfgang Lexer, and Friedrich Reimoser have been adapted and modified to the circumstances of these two nations. Sustainability will be analysed according to three columns of ecological, economic, and socio-cultural sustainability. The multidisciplinary theoretical approach to sustainability discourses includes the theories of public goods, property rights, and co-management strategies, based on Garrett Hardin’s controversial essay The Tragedy of the Commons. Hardin’s resource exploitation dilemma has been refuted many times. The working hypothesis is therefore based on a bottom-up approach of decentralisation and subsidiarity mainly based on the assumptions of Elinor Ostrom and Fikret Berkes, in which the preservation of local and therefore context-bound knowledge plays a significant role in the sustainable management of impure public goods like game. The paper seeks to compare current laws on hunting, weapons, wildlife, and environmental protection as well as to take a look at existing local hunting customs and the historic reasons for their disappearance.

Sorting Charles Tiebout

A substantial and diverse literature in economics traces its intellectual roots to Charles Tiebout's 1956 article, “The Pure Theory of Local Expenditure.” Its present recognition—frequently attributed to originating the idea of “voting with your feet”—contrasts sharply with its obscurity during Tiebout's academic career, which was tragically cut short by his passing in 1968. Penned as a qualification to Paul Samuelson's “pure theory,” the article failed to influence the stabilization of postwar public good theory despite Tiebout's engagement with key figures in its construction. Moreover, his death preceded the application of its central mechanism to public, urban, and environmental topics via hedonic, sorting, and computational general equilibrium models. Viewed in this way, the history of Tiebout's article, and thereby the history of public economics, has remarkably little to do with Tiebout himself. In consequence, this article seeks to repersonalize and contextualize Tiebout's scientific work. Professionally, Tiebout 1956 reflected its author's lifelong interest in local economies and governance. The social and political context of urban sprawl and political fragmentation that accompanied the rapid growth of metropolitan areas, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle, raised novel questions in local public finance for researchers before a knowledge community existed to credit their work. For Tiebout, it stimulated his collaboration with Vincent Ostrom and Robert Warren and later involvement in the interdisciplinary field of regional science.

What Motivates Contributors vs. Lurkers? An Investigation of Online Feedback Forums

Organizations are setting up online forums to obtain inputs and feedback from key stakeholders, such as employees, customers, and citizens. Examples of such virtual spaces are online policy deliberation forums (OPDFs) initiated by government organizations to garner citizens’ views on policy issues. Incorporating the inputs from these forums can result in more inclusive policies for societal benefit. Yet, as with other such forums, a common issue facing OPDFs is the sustainability of participation. When examining this issue, previous research has mostly explored the participation antecedents of existing contributors. However, engaging lurkers is also important, because these forums need to compensate for contributor attrition and become more effective with greater reach. Thus motivated, this study develops a model to explain the antecedents of both contributors’ and lurkers’ participation deriving from public participation and information technology-enabled public goods theories. It hypothesizes differences in the antecedents for contributors versus lurkers based primarily on construal level theory. The model was empirically validated through a survey of contributors and lurkers in a nationwide OPDF. The results reveal significant differences in the participation antecedents of the two groups as hypothesized. Specifically, contributors are influenced by political career benefit and political efficacy motives, whereas lurkers’ future participation intention is driven by collective benefits, possession of civic skills, and mobilization. Furthermore, perceived connectivity of the OPDF directly influences participation intention for contributors and indirectly impacts participation intention for both groups via perceived communality. Perceived communality, on the other hand, influences collective and persuasion benefits for both contributors and lurkers. These findings are useful for understanding and promoting participation through differential strategies for contributors and lurkers in OPDFs in particular, and by extension, other feedback or online forums.

Pump-Priming Payments for Sustainable Water Services in Rural Africa

Locally managed handpumps provide water services to around 200 million people in rural Africa. Handpump failures often result in extended service disruption leading to high but avoidable financial, health, and development costs. Using unique observational data from monitoring handpump usage in rural Kenya, we evaluate how dramatic improvements in maintenance services influence payment preferences across institutional, operational, and geographic factors. Public goods theory is applied to examine new institutional forms of handpump management. Results reveal steps to enhance rural water supply sustainability by pooling maintenance and financial risks at scale supported by advances in monitoring and payment technologies.

Designing Transboundary Conservation: Navigating Sovereignty and Ecosystem Scale in the Guiana Shield

The aim of biodiversity conservation is the protection of flora and fauna. Within the borders of a given state, such protection is usually facilitated by national laws. In the last 50 years, international legal instruments have sought to recognize transboundary ecological degradation. Solutions need to address the globalization of ecological damage through a paradigm shift in the conceptualization of state sovereignty and biodiversity. The boundary conflicts between Venezuela/Guyana and Guyana/Suriname are examined here for a conceptualized transboundary conservation initiative termed the Guiana Shield Ecoregion Reserve (GSER). Public goods theory is applied to facilitate greater understanding of the value of ecosystem services, carbon sequestration, and similar outputs from ecosystems. The proposal for a GSER might serve as a model for other transboundary conflicts where biodiversity conservation and its implicit provisioning of public goods might be a uniting paradigm for action.

ТЕОРИЯ ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИЯ ТЕОРИИ ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫХ БЛАГ

ТЕОРИЯ ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИЯ ТЕОРИИ ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫХ БЛАГ

ТЕОРИЯ ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИЯ ТЕОРИИ ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫХ БЛАГ (окончание)

ТЕОРИЯ ПРОИСХОЖДЕНИЯ ТЕОРИИ ОБЩЕСТВЕННЫХ БЛАГ (окончание)

The Public Economics of Climate Change

This paper considers the challenges to the field of public economics that arise from the issue of global warming. It outlines the argument for viewing the global climate as a public good and describes the problems that emerge when one tries to apply the insights of public goods theory to global public goods such as global warming. Special topics considered include the free rider problem in an international context and the extent to which private preferences should be taken into account in policy formation. The paper also includes a discussion of cost sharing in global climate policy and the design of policy when instruments for redistribution are imperfect. Green taxes are powerful tools for regulating emissions, and these are discussed both in a national and international context with emphasis on the proposal for a global CO2 tax. Finally there is a discussion of the several dimensions of distributional justice that arise in the context of climate policy.

Community Response towards Common Property Resources Management: A Case of Thamaraikulam Village of Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu

Common Property Resources (CPRs) have become a topic of scholarly research and attention, only after publication of an article entitled “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin (1968). It is well established fact that CPRs and its allied products play vital role in promoting sustainable rural development and thus there is a need to understand the perception of local people in management of CPRs (Olo Mola, 1993). In this context, the Theory of Collective Action, also known as Theory of Public Goods, can provide the basis for understanding the conditions under which the users of CPRs will act and react on the utilization CPRs and the major problems confronted in using the CPRs. Traditional economic theories recognize and focus only two types of property viz public and individual. But there is third dimension of property as CPRs, which have been traditionally recognized by the rural society. They CPRs are playing a crucial role in people’s survival and particularly in community development of “Rural India” - real India according to our future of Nation Mahatma Gandhiji. In rural environment of India, both ecological and socio economic sustainability is largely determined by the status of CPRs and rights. In this context (Jodha 1995) and (Singh 1994) are rightly pointed out that CPRs are owned in common by identifiable group of people, regulated by social convention and legally enforceable rules. Further, CPRs are resources accessible to the whole community of a village to which no individual has exclusive property rights. In short CPRs is subject to individual use, but not to individual position. Cross root evidences show that CPRs have made significant contribution to rural mass and they are: providing physical products, generating income, promoting social culture gains, bringing environmental/ecological benefits. With this background, the researchers have made an attempt to study “People’s perception on CPRs management in Thamaraikulam Village of Dindigul District”, by carving out the following objectives such as (i) to study the socio economic conditions of the sample users of CPRs in the study area; (ii) to examine the extend in which the CPRs are used and managed by the sample households; (iii) to identify the major problems in using and many the CPRs; and (iv) to suggest ways and means for effective utilization of CPRs for betterment of village community. The researchable issues and questing raised are: What are the CPRs available to the village community? How these resources are being utilized and managed for the well being of the community as a whole and individual in particular? What are the constraints found by the community for sustainability of CPRs usage? This micro level research provides feasible, viable possible and sustainable solution to these issues and questions.

How to Raise Voluntary Giving for Nonprofit Sports Clubs: An Analysis of Factors Influencing Donations

Nonprofit sports clubs generate revenue from a variety of sources. One of the main income categories is donations. Previous research only analyzed the amount of money generated through donations, but not the influencing factors. The purpose of this study is to investigate determinants of donations for nonprofit sports clubs. The study is based on the public goods theory (Weisbrod in “The economics of nonprofit institutions.” “Studies in structure and policy.” Oxford University Press, New York, pp 21–44, 1986) and the contract failure theory (Hansmann in Yale Law J 89(5):835–902, 1980) and makes use of an unbalanced panel data set from a nationwide online survey of nonprofit sports clubs in Germany (n = 41,343). The results show that particularly the provision of elite sport and the promotion of young talents positively influence the reception of donations. Moreover, sports clubs caring for social aspects, companionship, and conviviality as core values are able to generate higher revenues from donations. The same applies to clubs employing paid staff. Contrary, a commercial orientation was found to have a negative effect.