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On the Definition of Public Goods. Assessing Richard A. Musgrave's contribution

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  • Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay

    (Centre Walras-Pareto - UNIL - Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This paper provides an explanation of the emergence of the standars textbook definition of public goods in the middle of the 20th century. It focuses on Richard Musgrave's contribution in defining public goods as non-rival and non-excludable - from 1939 to 1969. Although Samuelson's mathematical definition is generally used in models of public goods, the qualitative understanding of the specificity of pure public goods owes more to Musgrave's emphasis on the impossibility of exclusion. This paper also highlights the importance of the size of the group to which benefits of a public good accrue. This analysis allow for a reassessment of the Summary table of goods which first appeared in Musgrave and Musgrave (1973) textbook.

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  • Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay, 2014. "On the Definition of Public Goods. Assessing Richard A. Musgrave's contribution," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00951577, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00951577
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00951577
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Koch, Michael, 2018. "Investments and capital stocks as estimations for health infrastructure in the European countries (EU28)," Working Papers of the European Institute for Socioeconomics 25, European Institute for Socioeconomics (EIS), Saarbrücken.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Richard A. Musgrave; social goods; public goods; non-exclusion; non-rivalry; non-rivalité; biens collectifs; biens sociaux;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • B29 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Other
    • A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate

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