1. Part 2: A Framework for the Analysis of Public Expenditure
Part 1 discussed WHEN to have government intervention.
Part 2 discusses HOW government can intervene.

2. Part 2: A Framework for the Analysis of Public Expenditure
Chapter 4: Public Goods
Chapter 5: Externalities
Chapter 6: Income Redistribution
Chapter 7: Cost-Benefit Analysis

3. Chapter 4: Public Goods
Public Goods – no one wants to pay for them, but everyone benefits from them.
How does the government decide WHICH public goods are provided and HOW MUCH IS provided?
Should the private market be used to provide or produce government commodities? 6

4. Chapter 4: Public Goods What is a Public Good?
Efficient Provision of Public Goods
The Efficiency Conditions
Public Goods and Distortionary Taxation
Private Provision of Public Goods
Free-Riders
Privatization

5. Theory - What is a Public Good?
A PURE PUBLIC GOOD has two features:
Nonrival – once provided, another person can consume it at no additional cost
Nonexcludable – once provided, it is impossible or highly expensive to prevent anyone from consuming it 6

6. Pure Public Good Examples
National Defense is a good example of a pure public good:
Nonrival – all Canadians benefit
Nonexcludable – it’s impossible to prevent a Canadian from benefitting
Other examples: Conventional Radio, A Beautiful View, A Canada-Wide Sunglass dome designed to block harmful sun rays (Canadome) 6

7. A PRIAVATE GOOD has two features:
What is a Private Good?
A PRIAVATE GOOD has two features:
Rival – once consumed, another person cannot consume it
Excludable – others can be prevented from consuming it
Food (ie: pizza or sushi) is a good example of a private good. Once I eat it, it’s gone and you’re left hungry. 6

8. Pure Public Good Issues
6 Issues arise out of Pure Public Goods:
Different Values
Public Goods Aren’t Absolute
NONRIVAL ≠ NONEXCLUDABLE
Unconventional Public Good
Private Provision
Private Production 6

9. 1) WHILE EVERYONE CONSUMES THE SAME AMOUNT, PEOPLE MAY VALUE IT DIFFERENTLY
-National defense protects everyone equally. Paranoid people love it and peace activists hate it.
-The Canadome is popular among people concerned with cancer and unpopular with people wanting tans. It affects everyone, however 6

10. 2) PUBLIC GOODS ARE NOT ABSOLUTE
-technology and the market can affect a public good. A free TV station becomes private if you need a decoder. A view becomes rival if too many people crowd.
-An IMPURE PUBLIC GOOD is to some extent rival or to some extent excludable
-most public goods are impure, but analysis of pure public goods still gives valuable results for impure public goods 6

11. 3) NONRIVAL ≠ NONEXCLUDABLE
-National parks are excludable if they have gates, but practically nonrival as they are so big
-My office hours are nonexcludable, as everyone is welcome, but rival if too many people are waiting in line 6

12. 4) VARIOUS THINGS HAVE SIMILARITIES WITH PUBLIC GOODS
-Inspiration can be nonrival and nonexcludable (such as coming from a sunset)
-Fear is nonrival, as one person being afraid doesn’t prevent others. Fear is also nonexcludable, as its hard to prevent.
-Income distribution or honesty are public goods as everyone benefits 6

13. 5) THE PUBLIC SECTOR CAN PROVIDE PRIVATE GOODS
-Medical services, housing, licenses, and utilities can all be provided by the government and/or private sector
-The label public or private doesn’t indicate what sector provides the item 6

14. 6) PUBLIC PROVISION ≠> PUBLIC PRODUCTION
-Some public services are contracted out to private contractors
-For example, the City of Edmonton contracts out much of its snow removal business
-it provides the public service through private contractors 6

15. Efficient Provision of Private Goods
-To cover efficient provision of public goods, we first look at efficient provision of private goods
-Consider Maka and Susan’s individual demands for video games
-At a market price, we add up Maka and Susan’s quantity demanded for video games to find market demand
-This results in a HORIZONTAL SUMMATION 6

16. Efficient Provision of Private Goods:
Maka
Susan
Market demand P P P
100 40 Q Q Q 2 5 7
@ P=$40, QM+QS=QD
2+5=7

17. Efficient Provision of Private Goods:
When market supply intersects market demand, we find equilibrium price and individual demand.
Maka
Susan
Market P P P S
100 65 40 Q Q Q 2
3.5 5
Q*=5 7
1.5
@ P*=$65, QM+QS=Q* =5

18. Efficient Provision of Private Goods
-From microeconomic theory, we know that a consumer maximizes utility where MRSxy=Px/Py
-If we normalize Py to $1, this simplifies to MRSxy=Px
-Since price is found on the demand curve, Maka’s (Susan’s) demand expresses Maka’s (Susan’s) MRS at each level of consumption 6

19. Efficient Provision of Private Goods
-From microeconomic theory, the supply curve comes from MC
-MRTxy=MCx/MCy, but since Py=MCy and Py=$1, MRTxy=MCx
-therefore the supply curve represents MRTxy
Then, at equilibrium, Supply=Demand, and
Pareto Efficiency Condition 6

20. Efficient Provision of PUBLIC GOODS
-Consider Maka and Susan’s individual demands for a public good: radio shows
-Radio shows are nonrival and nonexcludable; one person’s consumption doesn’t affect the other
-The key difference in a public good is that BOTH can consume a purchased good; it is not used up
-This results in a VERTICAL SUMMATION to calculate willingness to pay 6

21. Efficient Provision of Public Goods:
Market demand
Maka
Susan P P P 11 10 7 4 Q Q Q 2 2 2
Maka is willing to pay $4 each for 2 radio shows, and Susan is willing to pay $7 each, therefore the market is willing to pay $11 each

22. Efficient Provision of Public Goods:
Market demand
Maka
Susan P P P S 11 10 7 6 4 4 2 Q Q Q 2 3 2 3 3
The market Supply gives an equilibrium quantity of 3. Here price paid in the market ($6) is the sum of Maka’s payment ($2) and Susan’s payment ($4).

23. Efficient Provision of Public Goods
-Once again, if we normalize our other good to $1, demand (willingness to pay) represents MRS for each person.
-The sum of both people’s willingness to pay (market demand), is therefore the sum of individual MRS.
-The supply curve still represents MC and therefore MRT, so we have: 6

24. Efficient Provision of Public Goods
-Furthermore, again since Py=$1,
-Intuitively, public goods should therefore be provided until the point where the marginal cost of the good is equal to the sum of marginal benefits
-The private good equation can also be rewritten as 6

25. THEORY - Distortionary Taxes and Public Goods
If Public Goods are funded by distortionary taxation, we have two additional effects:
1) We have to consider the cost of raising an additional dollar through a distortionary tax, or marginal cost of public funds (MCF). Gross cost then becomes: 6

26. Distortionary Taxes and Public Goods
2) The public good may encourage economic activity, which translates into new taxes, captured by:
-Therefore, optimal provision of a public good then occurs when: 6

27. Distortionary Taxes and Public Goods
Note that if MR is positive (the public good benefits the economy), benefit becomes
Alternately, if MR is negative (the public good, though it may benefit people, hurts the economy (such as a free themepark hurting private themeparks),cost becomes: 6

28. Public Goods Conclusion
In short, public goods are always best provided where
Total Marginal Benefit = Marginal Cost
Providing a public good through distortionary taxes may increase or decrease its provision when compared to lump-sum taxation funding 6

29. Theory - Private Provision of Public Goods
If a public good is provided privately, its efficiency depend on how people represent their willingness to pay
-For private goods, people have no incentive to misrepresent their willingness to pay
-if the price is $10, and that lies in their willingness to pay, they will pay the $10, consume the good and be happy 6

30. Private Provision of Public Goods
-For public goods, people have an incentive to misrepresent their willingness to pay
-if the price is $10, a person could hope someone else pays the price, then they get to enjoy it (they are a FREE RIDER)
-for example, at an alligator reserve, people can pay money to throw meat into the water and watch the alligators go, and often wait for someone else to buy and throw the meat 6

31. Private Provision of Public Goods
-If the public good can be made excludable (ie: entrance fee), it is still provided inefficiently, as the MC of an additional consumer is zero, therefore P>MC
-The one way to avoid the free rider problem is through PERFECT PRICE DISCRIMINATION – everyone pays their willingness to pay
-this requires full information, therefore private provision is often doomed to be inefficient 6

32. The Free Rider Problem
THE FREE RIDER PROBLEM comes from the incentive to let others pay while you enjoy the benefits
-Yet empirically, people do band together to raise funds for public goods such as libraries
-Studies have shown that although people may be willing to contribute some towards public goods, this contribution generally falls short 6

33. The Free Rider Problem Example
Many people are willing to help construct homes for low income families.
People go to great lengths to help construct these homes, and one low income family is very happy.
-But the project never continues until a city reaches zero homelessness
-Similarly, private provision of public goods only goes so far 6

34. Privatization of Government Functions
Government functions (both public and private commodities) can be provided privately IF THEY ARE EXCLUDABLE:
Privatization has 2 LEVELS:
Private Provision – private firms provide the good or service
Private Production – private firms produce the good or service, which can then be provided by the government 6

35. Private Provision Debate
Many government functions can be and are provided privately IF THEY ARE EXCLUDABLE:
Home/private schooling vs. public schooling
Police force vs. Private security
Private swimming pool vs. Public lake
-To debate the merits of private provision of government functions, a variety of issues need be examined: 6

36. Private Provision Debate
Input costs
-Do private firms or the government pay lower input costs (wages, materials, etc) for the good or service?
-Are there unions or unique suppliers involved?
2) Administrative Costs
-Typically, government can reduce administration costs through size and economies of scale
-This is not always the case 6

37. 4) Quality of Information
Provision Debate
3) Diversity of Tastes
-If people have a variety of tastes (quality, quantity, environmental footprint, etc), private provision allows for variety
4) Quality of Information
-If individuals are poorly informed about the quality of the good, government provision may be best
-sofa selection is a lot easier than healthcare selection 6

38. 5) Distributional Issues
Provision Debate
5) Distributional Issues
-Does fairness imply that some goods and services should be available to EVERYONE, (COMMODITY EGALITARIANISM (Tobin, 1970))
-This argument is often made for healthcare 6

39. Public Production Debate
The argument about who should PRODUCE public goods often hinges on two concepts:
Cost vs. Quality
-private companies often produce inferior products (as in US health insurance refusing coverage or charging high premiums)
-private companies often have lower costs due to a focus on profit and lack of unions 6

40. Some argue that quality can be maintained through good contracts
Production Debate
Some argue that quality can be maintained through good contracts
-Some contracts are straightforward: cut the park lawn once a week
-Some contracts are near impossible: treat this yet-to-be-discovered disease with the following yet-to-be-discovered drugs 6

41. Market structure also needs to be considered:
Production Debate
Market structure also needs to be considered:
-If the government has a monopoly, is lack of competition causing inefficiency?
-If privatization creates a monopoly or oligopoly, will market power cause inefficiency? 6

42. Case Study: Alberta Liquor Privatization
West (1997) studied the 1993 privatization of Alberta liquor stores and learned the following:
-the number of liquor stores rose from 258 to 604, and although selection and individual stores fell, overall selection increased
-liquor prices rose between 8.5% and 10% (compared to 5% inflation) 6

43. Case Study: Alberta Liquor Privatization
-Liquor store employment tripled as wages fell by up to 50% (the union was replaced)
-There was no evidence of increased alcohol consumption or alcohol-related crimes 6

44. Case Study: Alberta Liquor Privatization
Was privatization good?
More stores vs. poorer selection
Liquor Price Increases
More employment vs. Lower wages
If this privatization is so complex, what does that say about privatizing healthcare, utilities or schools? 6

45. Chapter 4 Summary Public goods are nonrival and nonexcludable
With lump-sum taxation:
Public Goods are efficiently provided where ∑MRS=MRT or ∑MB=MC
(Private goods are efficiently provided where MRSA = MRSB = MRT)
With distortionary taxes, the marginal cost of public funds (MCF) and the tax revenue effect of the public good must be taken into account
Efficient provision still occurs where Total Benefit = Total cost 6

46. Chapter 4 Summary
It is unlikely that markets would provide public goods efficiently, even if they are excludable
Free-riding limits private provision of public goods
Privatization entails private provision or production of a government function
5 issues were raised in the debate between public or private provision
Two issues with public production are efficiency and quality 6