

Welfare Economics and the Theory of the State (1952) William Baumol – makes case for government provision of public goods in areas where there is a free-rider problem.Compensation to move away from fishing.


Legislation – on size of net size, number of fishing vessels.Quotas – difficult to implement and difficult to monitor.The government have tried various options such as: To deal with the free-rider problem associated with overconsumption of common resources. However, if you erect a high barrier and limit entrance to those willing to pay, it loses its feature as a public good and becomes a private good. But, if there was a voluntary donation of £1,000 for national defence, would anyone pay it?Ī beautiful garden could be seen as a public good.
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People don’t mind paying £4 if other’s free ride. This solution is only effective for services which have a relatively low cost. But, enough people may be willing to make a donation to fund the cost of the garden/museum. There will probably be many ‘free riders’ who don’t make a donation. But, most people accept paying taxes.Īustrian economists may criticise this approach arguing there is no guarantee the government knows consumer preferences and coercive action to make everyone pay and provide the good could lead to goods society doesn’t really need.įor some goods like visiting a garden, the garden may be able to raise funds by asking for donations if you enjoy your visit. some anti-war protesters have tried to withhold a certain % of their tax arguing they don’t want to make contributions to illegal wars. This ensures everyone who benefits from the service pays towards the cost. Therefore the cost of national defence is paid indirectly by UK taxpayers. This results in higher taxes for UK taxpayers. For example, UK national defence costs £31bn. One solution is to treat the many beneficiaries as one consumer and then divide the cost equally. For example, a fisherman may take a high catch and free ride on other fishermen who are more concerned to preserve sustainable fish stocks. – This is also known as The Tragedy of the Commons. Therefore, public goods like national defence, street lighting, beautiful gardens may not be provided in a free market.Ī free-rider problem is also said to occur when there is overconsumption of shared resources.

