Great article. Thanks for putting this together. My family and I were just on a hike earlier in the month to see the larches in Western Canada. The parking lots and the trails were packed. The government has introduced a park fee - making things excludable to some degree. However, the impact of this fee has been quite small. There aren't quotas - but there are limited parking spots and this had led to people parking on the highways. To challenge this, there has been parking enforcement put in play to limit this type of parking. This still has limited impact and people now crowd the "overflow parking" that is at a different trail head and walk an extra 1 or 2 km to the main trailhead.
I like your note on the types of goods matrix and how things can move between public goods and common pool resources. That is a good thing to add to my teaching.
I'm glad you found it helpful! I love teaching this section to highlight that things can move between boxes. My usual example is how toilet paper at home is a private good, but that toilet paper on campus is a common resource.
Would it be correct to say that parks -national or state- , for instance, can be both non-excludable and non-rivalrous up to a certain point, until the tipping point is reached by overcrowding or overuse?
Yes! That's why I always have the arrows on my "types of goods" matrix because a park could be considered both a public good and a common resource, depending on the context. They're generally both non-excludable, but can become rivalrous if too many people use it at once. This is particularly true for smaller parks or during peak tourists season.
I am about to cover the tragedy of the commons in my classes. I can't wait to use this article to supplement my standard materials. As always, another timely article for me to use in class. Thanks, Jadrian!
Great article. Thanks for putting this together. My family and I were just on a hike earlier in the month to see the larches in Western Canada. The parking lots and the trails were packed. The government has introduced a park fee - making things excludable to some degree. However, the impact of this fee has been quite small. There aren't quotas - but there are limited parking spots and this had led to people parking on the highways. To challenge this, there has been parking enforcement put in play to limit this type of parking. This still has limited impact and people now crowd the "overflow parking" that is at a different trail head and walk an extra 1 or 2 km to the main trailhead.
I like your note on the types of goods matrix and how things can move between public goods and common pool resources. That is a good thing to add to my teaching.
I'm glad you found it helpful! I love teaching this section to highlight that things can move between boxes. My usual example is how toilet paper at home is a private good, but that toilet paper on campus is a common resource.
I struggle more with getting them to realize that the government doesn't only provide public goods. I use the post office, but that doesn't resonate as much with them: https://www.mondayeconomist.com/p/usps-is-not-a-public-good
Would it be correct to say that parks -national or state- , for instance, can be both non-excludable and non-rivalrous up to a certain point, until the tipping point is reached by overcrowding or overuse?
Yes! That's why I always have the arrows on my "types of goods" matrix because a park could be considered both a public good and a common resource, depending on the context. They're generally both non-excludable, but can become rivalrous if too many people use it at once. This is particularly true for smaller parks or during peak tourists season.
I am about to cover the tragedy of the commons in my classes. I can't wait to use this article to supplement my standard materials. As always, another timely article for me to use in class. Thanks, Jadrian!
I love when that happens!