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31 sats \ 10 replies \ @Undisciplined OP 25 Jul \ parent \ on: Punishment is a Public Good econ
It's about the reach of the public good being provided. Law enforcement is a public good (ostensibly), within the entire jurisdiction of the police department.
The street musician only provides a public good within the limited range of the potential audience, which will often be confined to one piece of property. Since the benefits of the public good occur there, the owner can be incentivized to fund its provision.
I don't think either should be funded by the government, but that's a separate topic.
It seems if you want to discuss the reach you should not compare the street musician with the term "law enforcement" but compare the street musician with the police officer.
Or you can compare Music with Law Enforcement
For example why is one considered a public good and the other is not?
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I see what you're getting at, but the point about law enforcement is that it supposedly deters crime throughout the jurisdiction and the officers travel to where they're needed. The street musician doesn't have comparable traits.
Public goods discussions do get murky when you start dissecting them, but that doesn't make it a useless concept.
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Regarding law enforcement and crime deterrence, Steven Levitt and Gary Becker have written about this topic
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It's a pretty heavily covered topic. Becker is considered the pioneer of it, at least amongst economists.
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I guess its not a useless concept to people who gain power and influence from it
But as an economic term it seems useless
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You're certainly welcome to that view, but you're talking to two economists who are telling you it's useful and who aren't trying to gain power from it.
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I dont feel strongly about this tbh. But what would happen if you began stating publically that public goods is not a usefull economic term? Im sorry for getting a bit real but you would probably lose standing and maybe even your job even if you had arguments to back it up. If that is the case you are using it gain power :) But it is what it is
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I would absolutely not lose my job over that and neither would anyone else. That's completely absurd.
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Economists that dont support the concept of public goods are not going to be particularly well off at the moment which is why i say the concept is being used to gain power and influence. Its not about economics at all.
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What is that based on? I don't think you understand what you're talking about.
Most of us are never going to even discuss public goods in our research. There are plenty of avenues to succeed professionally as an economist, without endorsing the idea of public goods.