"Public goods" is a term invented by thieves to steal your money.

There ain't no such thing, not really. And who says what's "efficient" anyway?

If you’re anything like me, you were taught that markets are good for producing private goods like food and clothes and houses. And isn’t it wonderful that we live in a free society so such things can be produced efficiently?

But we are also taught that there are these other things called “public goods”, for which government provision is only good and proper.

The grift (ahem, I mean “idea”) is that some goods have the characteristics of non-rivalrousness and non-excludability. And further, if goods have both of these characteristics, government production funded by taxes is appropriate for provision of such goods.

Non-rivalrousness means that you can enjoy the “good” and I can come along and enjoy it too, and so can a bunch of other people. Each additional person enjoying the good doesn’t diminish the ability of the others to use it.

Non-excludability refers to the situation where a provider can’t charge for the production of the good. Once the good is “out there”, everybody can enjoy it whether they pay or not. This is also sometimes called the “free-rider” problem, or sometimes that the good has “positive externalities”.

The two classic examples of “public goods” one usually hears about in school are lighthouses for maritime navigation and celebratory firework displays. Both are mentioned in the Wikipedia entry on the subject. There’s even a lovely picture of a lighthouse — surely the quintessential public good.

Problem is, private production and operation (for a profit) of lighthouses has been a thing for hundreds of years. Fireworks too. Sure, there are government-funded displays. But there are private ones too.

People can figure out ways of charging for these things. Back in the day, lighthouse provision was often tied to fees for the associated docks and harbors — before the government came along and nationalized them.

And fireworks can simply be part of the ambiance provided by a large resort or part of HOA amenities. Heck, lots of people just light off fireworks for themselves and don’t care one bit about the “free riders” who are “mooching” off their largesse.

So what gives? I thought economics was a science. What’s with these sloppy definitions?

According to Wikipedia, Paul Samuelson in the 1950s is credited with formalizing the concept of “public goods”. That sounds about right. He was a monstrous statist and he sure peddled about a zillion textbooks — more often than not purchased by schools and universities funded by taxpayer dollars.

Go figure.

Other often-cited examples of so-called “public goods” are police and fire services, dams and flood-management systems, street-lights, over-air television and radio, and national defense — and a bunch of other weird ones. Check out that Wikipedia page. It’s a hoot.

If you’ll notice, several things on this list can be provided privately — and are. Others easily could be provided privately if not for government forbidding it, or crowding out a private market for it.

The argument is that without government funding of these things, they can’t be produced — or if they can, they won’t be produced at “optimum levels”.

Well, who says what’s optimum? I’m betting in most situations it’s the people with the guns who are threatening to shoot you if you don’t cough up some dough for their pet project that they’ve gussied up with the high-minded con job label of “public good”.

If they are really fancy, they will show you a chart with crisscrossing lines and shout “homo economicus!” at you until you fork over the money.

Even national defense need not be provided by government. Read here and here and here and here for more on that. If you’re still thirsty for knowledge afterwards, check out Man, Economy, and State by Murray Rothbard.

As I mentioned before, I’m guessing that “public goods” is an idea borne by men with guns who wanted to force other people to pay for something they thought was a good idea.

They were either to lazy or greedy to figure out a way to fund it themselves, so they resorted to the use of force.

That’s not really part of the science of economics, Mr. Samuelson. That’s just a robbery.

To add to your intuition on this matter, I highly recommend watching the (sadly short-lived) HBO series Deadwood. It’s probably my favorite TV series ever. The acting and the dialogue are just marvelous.

The setting of the show is the government-less mining camp of Deadwood South Dakota. Gold has been discovered there, so miners and saloon-keepers and hardware store operators have flocked there to make their fortunes — and in the process make a tiny society.

At one point, sickness comes to the camp in the form of smallpox. The best way to deal with the problem is costly. Men must be sent a long way to get vaccines and medicines. Also, a quarantine zone must be set up and a doctor and nurses paid to care for the sick.

But there’s no government there. Now what?

Well, in the show (which creator David Milch wrote relying heavily on the actual newspaper articles from the camp’s newspaper The Black Hills Pioneer), private actors stepped in.

The three biggest saloon/brothel/casino operators got together and agreed to split the costs. They had a whole lot to lose if the camp was ravaged by smallpox, so guided by self-interest (and other noble virtues) they handled the problem, privately and for free.

It’s a great scene in a great show. Check it out.

And it’s also a great example that absent the immoral use of force that is the very definition of monopoly government, people do what makes sense for them to do. They work it out. They solve problems. They make agreements. They coordinate their interests through free exchange and free association.

Government production of “public goods” is just lazy and evil. We would be a better civilization if we realized our mistake and jettisoned the poisonous notion.

There, I said it. And for free!

That said, I would treasure you forever if you upgraded to a paid subscriber. There are bonus interviews and Haman Nature podcast episodes waiting for you if you do. Also, consider checking out Liberty Classroom, where I deepened my knowledge of economics and many other subjects.

And thank you, always, for your time and attention.

Naturally,

Adam