public goods

public goods : In economics, a public good is a good that is non-rivaled and non-excludable. This means, respectively, that consumption of the good by one individual does not reduce availability of the good for consumption by others; and that no one can be effectively excluded from using the good. In the real world, there may be no such thing as an absolutely non-rivaled and non-excludable good; but economists think that some goods approximate the concept closely enough for the analysis to be economically useful. For example, if one individual drinks a milkshake there is no milkshake left for anyone else, and it is possible to exclude others from consuming the milkshake; it is a rivaled and excludable private good. Conversely, breathing air neither significantly reduces the amount of air available to others, nor can people be effectively excluded from using the air. This makes it a public good, but one that is economically trivial, as air is a free good. A less straight-forward example is th....   More from Wikipedia

  Best Of: Julian uses open mics for a range of public and community announcements

  Vice Chancellor of the University of Buckingham (Britain's only independent university), Terence Kealey is a vocal critic of government funding of science. His first book, 'The Economic Laws of Scientific Research,' argues that state funding of science is neither necessary nor beneficial, a thesis that he developed in his recently published analysis of the causes scientific progress, 'Sex, Science and Profits.' In it, he makes the stronger claim that not only is government funding not ...

Question : what is your definition of public good?

Answer : A public good is a good that all people share in regardless of their contribution to the cost. Examples of a public good are clean air, and water. Also public education and national security. A public good is also defined by the fact that private enterprise cannot afford to supply a public good as it is too expensive and because private individuals will refuse to pay and will choose ot free ride since they will share in the good anyway...   More from Yahoo Answers

Question : I've never been there, but I was wondering how good the public transportation system in the city is? Could a person commute, say 10 miles, to work every day and rely on public transportation without encountering too many headaches?

Answer : Depends where. If you're working and living in the city itself, particularly in and around downtown, absolutely. It'd be far more convenient than a car. But as soon as you get out to the outskirts of Chicago, it gets a bit harder. The Metra trains are good, and reliable, but they only run on the hour (if that) and they're only good if they happen to go near where you happen to go. For example, I used to work and live in the city and I took the elevated trains back and forth, and it was easy (even relaxing, because I could read on the way). But after a while I was living in the city and working in the far suburbs, and it was, unfortunately, faster to drive...   More from Yahoo Answers

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