Public goods exist in part because, per Mansur Olson's logic of collective action, if they were privately provisioned at scale everyone has an incentive to opt out (free-ride), so they get under-created in purely voluntary arrangements—this is the flip side of the birthday paradox's network economics.

causalpending

Speaker

Clay Shirky

Evidence Quote

public goods get under created in purely voluntary farms

Source

Clay Shirky on Coase, Collaboration and Here Comes Everybody 10/20/2008EconTalk
Created: 6/15/2026, 9:28:59 AM

My Notes

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