Routledge Dictionary of Economics, Second Edition
A commodity or service which is available to everyone in a particular catchment area, cannot be withheld from non-payers and is ‘non-rival’, i.e. one person’s consumption does not diminish that of others. The main examples are national defence, sewerage, street lighting, lighthouses, public health measures such as mass vaccination, and scientific research.
As individuals cannot be charged according to consumption for goods and services collectively provided, it is usual to finance their production by taxation. Although the provision of public goods was small until the twentieth century, writers as early as PETTY, SMITH and John Stuart MILL argued for their existence. It is not always easy to distinguish between a public and a private good as some private goods gratuitously benefit third parties, e.g. maintaining a garden in a beautiful condition confers pleasure on many people in the vicinity
See also: club good; local public good; mixed good; private good
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