Public Goods
by Avni Patel Thompson and · updated 4mo ago
Public Goods
by Avni Patel Thompson and · updated 4mo ago
We [also] build our sense of civic identity and opinions about government through social interactions. […] Our social capital — which Putnam defines as the overarching belief about society that facilitates co-operation — diminishes when we lose opportunities to engage with people outside of our regular social networks.
Keely Adler added 4mo ago
Consider a classic public good: a public park. We might say park visitors are generically "users" of this public space, or that anyone within driving distance is adequately served. But this categorization feels distinctly unsatisfying. "User" does not capture meaningful detail about a population that collectively values free acc
... See moreKeely Adler added 4mo ago
Understanding public goods as positive externalities enables us to consider people that are not typically classified as members of a public to be our beneficiaries. This definition stands in contrast to economic discourse, where non-contributing users of some public good are considered "free riders," indicative of market failure. How coul
... See moreKeely Adler added 4mo ago
Each of these examples is based on a different idea of what makes life meaningful—on an idea of what is "good" (Taylor, 1977). Public goods are non-excludable and non-rivalrous, but more importantly, they are objects that satisfy values that are shared.
Keely Adler added 4mo ago
We are members of a multitude of publics, and we must bring the perspective of our full selves to the creation of public goods.
Keely Adler added 4mo ago
By addressing concerns rooted in our felt localities and establishing social models for others, we can catalyze truly global public goods.
Keely Adler added 4mo ago
to create a majestic and egalitarian society requires a more expansive vision of public goods than what can be imagined with economics alone.
Keely Adler added 4mo ago
A social body is united not only by the things it makes use of, but by a multitude of shared traits, including geography, ethnicity, religion, taste, culture, history, and values. This is why, no matter their claim to universality, instantiations of public goods are always local . Locality is created and felt through shared space, time, or experien
... See moreKeely Adler added 4mo ago
When we think of the public, we should think expansively. This is not to say that we must consider everyone in the world as a part of our public. As we emphasized in our essay on squads, we also celebrate small, self-selective communities and trust-based groups. But by considering the effects (positive and negative) that we might have on groups at
... See moreKeely Adler added 4mo ago