From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@calweb.com)
Date: Tue Feb 18 1997 - 15:49:48 MST
> The very idea of a public good does not imply anything else, and so is
> not a myth. The standard economic concept of a public good is only
> meant to delimit a certain set of situations, and does by itself imply
> what the best way to deal with them is.
Every definition of "public good" I've seen in economics texts defines
it specifically to imply those things that the free market cannot
provide, because they benefit many who did not pay for their creation.
It is usually implied that taxation is therefore the only way to fund
such things. It is this concept, not just the words "public good" in
general, that Coase's work undermines, and to which I referred.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
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