Premium
The Free‐Rider Problem: A Survey *
Author(s) -
McMILLAN JOHN
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
economic record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1475-4932
pISSN - 0013-0249
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4932.1979.tb02209.x
Subject(s) - free rider problem , exposition (narrative) , variety (cybernetics) , statement (logic) , public good , free riding , economics , mathematical economics , microeconomics , computer science , political science , law , art , literature , artificial intelligence , incentive
A number of recent papers have developed a variety of ways of overcoming the free‐rider problem. This essay presents a survey and exposition of these contributions and suggests that the free‐rider problem is a statement of the incompleteness of the standard theory rather than a description of the world. Misallocation of resources is not inevitable in a public‐goods economy.