The Private Provision of Public Goods: Principles and Implications

Authors

Clayton P. Gillette, New York University School of LawFollow

Files

Description

Liberal economic theory conventionally assumes that society cannot rely on the market to provide public goods and, therefore, that such goods must be provided by the government. This assumption implies that the concept of public goods provides an inherent limit to the scope of economically optimal privatization. Professor Gillette argues that no such clear categorical distinction can be maintained consistently with the goal of economic efficiency. Determining whether goods are more efficiently provided by the market or by the government requires a particularistic analysis of the comparative institutional advantages and disadvantages of the market and the government.

Source Publication

A Fourth Way?: Privatization, Property and the Emergence of the New Market Economies

Source Editors/Authors

Gregory S. Alexander, Grażyna Skąpska

Publication Date

1994

Recommended Citation

Gillette, Clayton P., "The Private Provision of Public Goods: Principles and Implications" (1994). Faculty Chapters. 734.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/734