Private good

Rivalrous, as the same piece of cheese can only be consumed once. They are also excludable, as it is well possible to prevent someone from consuming the cheese - simply by denying to sell it to them.]]Private goods are also cars etc..We usually buy what we need or want from our personal use . A loaf of bread , for example , is a private good : its owner can prevent others from consuming it


A private good is defined in economics as "an item that yields positive benefits to people"[1] that is excludable, i.e. its owners can exercise private property rights, preventing those who have not paid for it from using the good or consuming its benefits;[2] and rivalrous, i.e. consumption by one necessarily prevents that of another. A private good, as an economic resource is scarce, which can cause competition for it.[3] The market demand curve for a private good is a horizontal summation of individual demand curves.[4]

Unlike public goods, private goods are less likely to have the free rider problem. Assuming a private good is valued positively by everyone, the efficiency of obtaining the good is obstructed by its rivalry, that is simultaneous consumption of a rivalrous good is theoretically impossible; the feasibility of obtaining the good is made difficult by its excludability, that is people have to pay for it to enjoy its benefits.[5]

One of the most common ways of looking at goods in the economy is by examining the level of competition in obtaining a given good, and the possibility of excluding its consumption; one cannot, for example, prevent another from enjoying a beautiful view, or clean air.[6]

Definition matrix

Excludable Non-excludable
Rivalrous Private goods
food, clothing, cars, parking spaces
Common-pool resources
fish stocks, timber, coal
Non-rivalrous Club goods
cinemas, private parks, satellite television
Public goods
free-to-air television, air, national defense

Example of a private good

An example of the private good is bread: bread eaten by a given person cannot be consumed by another (rivalry), and it is easy for a baker to refuse to trade a loaf (exclusive).

To illustrate the horizontal summation characteristic, assume there are only two people in this economy and that:

As a result, a new market demand curve can be derived with the following results:

Price per loaf of bread Loaves of bread
Person A Person B Total
$6 0 0 0
$5 0 1 1
$4 0 2 2
$3 1 3 4
$2 2 4 6
$1 3 5 8

References

  1. Nicholson, Walter (2004). Intermediate Microeconomics And Its Application. United States of America: South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning. p. 59. ISBN 0-324-27419-X.
  2. Ray Powell (June 2008). "10: Private goods, public goods and externalities". AQA AS Economics (paperback). Philip Allan. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-340-94750-0.
  3. Hallgren,M.M.,McAdams A.K.,1995. A model for efficient aggregation of resources for economic public goods on the internet. The Journal of Electronic Publishing. doi http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0001.125
  4. "Public Goods: Demand". AmosWEB Encyclonomic WEB*pedia. AmosWEB LLC. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  5. Malkin,J. & ,Wildavasky,A.,1991. Why the traditional distinction between public and private goods should be abandoned. Journal of Theoretical Politics. doi: 10.1177/0951692891003004001
  6. Rivalry and Excludability in Goods. (n.d.). Living Economics. Retrieved October 22, 2011 from http://livingeconomics.org/article.asp?docId=239
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