Musgrave, Samuelson, and the Crystallization of the Standard Rationale for Public Goods

Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay

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Abstract: This paper provides a narrative of the emergence of the standard textbook definition of public goods. It focuses on Richard A. Musgrave's contribution in defining public goods as nonrival and nonexcludable—from 1937 to 1973. Although Samuelson's mathematical definition is generally used in models of public goods, the qualitative understanding of the specificity of pure public goods owes a lot to Musgrave. I argue that the evolution of Musgrave's writings on public goods reflects his intention to justify his view of the role of the state in providing goods and services to citizens with an argument that would be convincing to the community of U.S. economists in the mid-twentieth century. Musgrave's definition highlights his lifelong concern for a comprehensive, realistic, and useful normative theory of the public sector.

Keywords: Richard A. Musgrave; Paul A. Samuelson; social goods; public goods; nonrivalry; nonexclusion; free riding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-03
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Published in History of Political Economy, 2017, 49 (1), pp.59 - 92. ⟨10.1215/00182702-3777158⟩

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Working Paper: Musgrave, Samuelson, and the Crystallization of the Standard Rationale for Public Goods (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01475760

DOI: 10.1215/00182702-3777158

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