The Voluntary Provision of Public Goods? The Turnpike Companies of Early America

Daniel Klein

University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers from University of California Transportation Center

Abstract: The turnpike companies of early America (roughly 1795-1840) were very unprofitable but conferred vast benefits to communities served. Purchases were necessary to complete the road and unprofitability was foreseen. Thus the turnpikes would appear to have been public goods. Yet hundreds of turnpikes were provided through voluntary association. The free rider problem was overcome by an almost vigilant impulse to participate and to see that your neighbor did likewise.

Keywords: Architecture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1990-10-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/2587p3z1.pdf;origin=repeccitec (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Voluntary Provision of Public Goods? The Turnpike Companies of Early America (1990)
Working Paper: The Voluntary Provision of Public Goods? The Turnpike Companies of Early America (1990)
Working Paper: THE VOLUNTARY PROVISION OF PUBLIC GOODS? THE TURNPIKE COMPANIES OF EARLY AMERICA (1989)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt2587p3z1

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers from University of California Transportation Center Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Lisa Schiff ().