Good Being Excludable

The Economics world is so vast and detailed that one can literally get lost in it. Although every part is crucial, there are some subjects that one should definitely not ignore. For instance, although we may not realize it, there are numerous types of goods in a society. Consequently, comprehending what they are and mean can help us have a better insight on the issues that come with it, and understanding how the market and society works, which eventually can affect our decisions. Throughout this essay, I will discuss about goods being excludable, rival in consumption, public and common resources. In addition, I will mention the externalities associated with public good and common resources, and provide examples of free riders in society and

For example, I purchased a few weeks ago an airplane ticket for Washington DC, this is an excludable good because since I bought it, no one else can have access to it. Additionally, a good being rival in consumption means that when a person is using a good or service, it decreases the possibility for another person to use that same good or service. For instance, since there is only one microwave at my house, two people cannot use at the same time, which makes it a rival good. On the other hand, a public good is the opposite of the previously mentioned types of goods, a public good is non-excludable and non-rivalrous, which basically means that anyone can use a public good without being excluded and if one person is using a public good, another person can use it as well. For example, I live in a gated community and we have a common pool, gym, and park that are available for anyone to use without excluding anyone who is part of the community. Furthermore, a common resource is non-excludable, but it is rivalrous. In other words, it can be accessed by anyone and because of this, if one person is using a certain good, it can decrease the chances for another person to obtain that good. For example, there is an oven at my house that can be accessed by anyone, but if someone is using it then the other person cannot use

Therefore, free riders are people who want to benefit from a common good without paying for it at expense of someone else and basically taking advantage of their access to such good. The most common example of free riders in a society are the people who do not pay taxes and still use public goods such as roads, schools, parks, libraries, national security, etc. Since they are public goods and everyone can access them, no one really knows whether you paid your fair share in taxes or not. In this case I believe the private market cannot solve this problem, because privatizing the previously mentioned goods or services can be unfair to the people who actually cannot afford them. The only entity that can interfere is the government, and they could continue implementing their fines to the people who do not file taxes or do not pay their fair share. They could also have trainings for tax preparers so they can incentive their clients to report all their revenue and ensure they are fairly paying their taxes. Similarly, I recently faced a situation where I encountered a free rider in my life. My family has recently fixed our sprinklers in our backyard since our grass was dry, and we have been regularly using them to “revive” our grass. However, we did not notice that our neighbor’s backyard was also dry and their sprinklers were broken, and since we have fixed our sprinklers,