We're Not One of Them. We're One of You.

At the Libertarian Institute, we feature independent intellectuals who strive to understand our world and communicate that understanding to you. We don’t work for Lockheed or K Street or Qatar. We work for you. Support the Libertarian Institute Today!

$715 of $60,000 raised

What The Public Goods Category Really Is

by | Aug 14, 2017

What The Public Goods Category Really Is

by | Aug 14, 2017

The economic concept of public goods is the singular justification for government’s existence in the American “republican” political tradition.  But what is this category actually?  Many libertarian thinkers have deconstructed many ostensible public goods and demonstrated why they don’t necessarily belonging to this category.  Roads, utilities, the environment, even law can all be managed privately through voluntary interaction in the civil society – at least in theory.  These goods don’t necessarily belong to the public goods category.

I was thinking about the sheep on the commons, and the enclosures which ended the “tragedy of the commons”.  Was the commons really a public good?  Or was it a by-product of a society previously held in a artificial serfdom?  Perhaps something appears as a public good because of historical relationships between former rent-seeking behavior by political tyrants, and the enduring cultural norms that develop around this behavior.  The legacy of this rent-seeking in places where it’s cheaper (public, or high-traffic areas like roads, towns, and marketplaces) might cause cultural habits that treat this high-traffic category as a commons.

Maybe the public goods category isn’t an economic category, but a socio-cultural and political category.  Maybe the state founded to regulate this category is nothing but a concession to our cultural habits which because of history seek and expect some kind of rulership.

Zack Sorenson

Zack Sorenson

Zachary Sorenson was a captain in the United States Air Force before quitting because of a principled opposition to war. He received a MBA from Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan as class valedictorian. He also has a BA in Economics and a BS in Computer Science.

View all posts

Our Books

Shop books published by the Libertarian Institute.

libetarian institute longsleeve shirt

Our Books

15 books

Recent Articles

Recent

We’re Not One Of Them. We’re One Of You.

We’re Not One Of Them. We’re One Of You.

The life of a state-intellectual is charmed. They get a cushy job at a think tank funded by weapons manufacturers, the Pentagon, USAID, and foreign governments. They get invited on power faction media and platformed as essential thinkers. They get professorships at...

read more

US Hypersonics Off to Stuttering Start (Again)

This is part of the "prompt strike" initiative trying to increase the speed of delivery of munitions operationally. It took two years of delays to have a first test launch in December 2024 (maybe, Pentagon is shady on launch date actual); The missile at the core of...

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This