1. Private Individuals Never Pay for Streetlights Citizenship: Consumer Economics

2. About the Unit In the Consumer Economics Unit we will be exploring the following questions: How do banks and other financial institutions make money? What is a public company? What are public services? What is the purpose of education? Why is employment important? What effect does income inequality have?

3. Public Goods and Services

4. Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ 20eFYBsig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ 20eFYBsig

5. Historical Examples 500BCE - In Athens (Ancient Greece) indirect taxes are used to pay for city festivals, temples, and walls to protect the city. 1421 - The first patent is issued to an italian engineer who invented a crane to hoist items onto barges. 1848 - The Communist Manifesto advocates for the common ownership of labor and equipment by workers. 19th Century (1800’s) - Public street lightening is introduced in Europe and North America. 1954 - A US economist develops a modern theory of public goods/services.

6. Summary Public goods/services are those that anyone can benefit from without preventing others from doing the same, are not provided by private firms because they can’t prevent non-payers from using them, and are provided by governments because they are usually essential to the public good.