Question

Is public infrastructure a public good? Explain and provide clear logical arguments for your
position.

Answer 1

Is public infrastructure a public good?Explain with logical arguments.

A public has two basic characteristics which are that they are non-excludable and non-rival.Non-excludable means it is not possible to exclude people from using it even if they do not pay for it,and non-rival means that individual consumption does not reduce its availability to others.Defence of national borders is a classic example of a pure public good,as even for people who do not pay for it are benefited from the defence at the borders,which makes it non-excludable and also if one person receives defence it does not stop the other people in the country from receiving defence.

Some goods are incorrectly considered as public goods because they posses positive externalities however they not have the characteristics of public goods.One such example is public infrastucture.

Public infrastructure is not a public good.A toll,which is tax that is supposed to be paid to use a road makes it excludable,it means people who do not pay it cannot use the road,also it becomes rival when the toll is set to a price which is below the market leading to congestion.In case of public roads many of them are privatized like those for railways,airports or ports,where it is not available to use for evryone.

Thus infrastructure is not an example of public good.

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