Public and Private Goods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Public and Private Goods - Essay Example Examples of public goods include street lighting, roads, television broadcasts, fresh air and clean water. Street lighting is referred to as a public good. This is because the there is a unison demand of the product. The demand and supply of the good is the same to all consumers. The service s offered by street lights cannot be depleted by one individual. Additionally, the ownership of street lights cannot be dictated one person. The elasticity of the good cannot change any form since the demand does not change. Television broadcast as a good is public good. Broadcasting has indirect demand thus the elasticity of its price does not change. It is categorized as public good since there are no rights for ownership for individuals. The demand of another person does not affect the supply of another (Guess, 2003). Roads are the most common public goods. They are used by every individual regardless of the use. They cannot be owned by an individual and the price elasticity of roads cannot change since its maintenance funds do not affect the consumers directly. Fresh air and clean water are the most available public goods (Meyer, 2010). They occur naturally hence cannot be owned by an individual. There is equal demand on the commodity and the supply to an individual does not affect the supply to another person. These are goods that have financial benefits to individuals (Guess, 2003). They are excludable and the owners can exercise the right to ownership. They are scarce and have competition. They have a varying elasticity of demand depending on the demand and quality. They include food, clothing, electronics, cars and furniture. Food as a private good has competition. The demand of food is usually much higher than the supply of food. There is competition for the commodity. Owners of the good have the right to own the goods and dictate the pricing of the