PUBLIC GOODS: Goods that are difficult to keep nonpayers from consuming (excludability), and use of the goods by one person doesn't prevent use by others (rival consumption). Examples include national defense, a clean environment, and any fourth of July fireworks display. Public goods are invariably provided by government because there's no way a private business can profitably produce them. Private businesses can't sell public goods in markets, because they can't charge a price and keep nonpaying people away. Moreover, businesses shouldn't charge a price, because there's no opportunity cost for extra consumers. For efficiency, government needs to pay for public goods through taxes.

     See also | good types | excludability | rival consumption | efficiency | market | exchange | market failure | common-property good | near-public good | private good | free-rider problem |

PUBLIC GOODS, AmosWEB GLOSS*arama, http://www.AmosWEB.com, AmosWEB LLC, 2000-2024. [Accessed: July 26, 2024].

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Total revenue generated per unit of a variable input, keeping all other inputs unchanged. Average revenue product, usually abbreviated ARP, is found by dividing total revenue by the variable input or by multiplying average physical product by average revenue. Average revenue product is a part of marginal productivity theory used to analyze the demand for productive inputs.

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