Plain Sense Economics

As a followup to my earlier note on Oregon’s Measures 66 & 67, we need to take a quick look at some of the theories and rationale behind government taxes. This isn’t and can’t be an exhaustive discussion, but hopefully it is a start for our considerations. For SOU students I commend to you my [...]

Common goods are non-exclusive (it is hard to prevent anyone from consuming them – can’t sell tickets) and they are rival (consumption reduces their number). The economic parable, “The Tragedy of the Commons” highlights the policy problems with managing common goods.
From the April 9 edition of The New York Times, comes a report of a [...]

Earlier we looked at the difficulty in voting for taxes and levies that will pay for a public good. In the case of the Ashland school levy, social and community values won the day. This post discusses the theory and definition behind public goods and common goods.
Public Goods…
… have three important characteristics:

They are a good [...]

In my principles of microeconomics class next week we will take up the idea of public goods. This week, however, the city of Ashland votes on a special levy to support activities in our local school district. This is too good an opportunity to pass up – to reflect on voting for public services. The [...]