Musgrave, Samuelson, and the Crystallization of the Standard Rationale for Public Goods
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4863541 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay (0000-0002-0201-0152, Goldsmiths University of London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 59-92 |
| Publication date | 2017-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2702 • E-ISSN: 1527-1919 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00182702-3777158 |
| OpenAlex | W2461354631 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 18 |
| References cited | 64 |
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 US 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
Crystallization · Economics · Mathematical economics · Neoclassical economics · Physics · Public economics · Public good · Thermodynamics · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Political Philosophy and Ethics
Paternalism and the Public Household. On the Domestic Origins of Public Economics
Mapping the history of public economics in the twentieth century
Theorising public expenditures
Samuelson’s social welfare function and Buchanan’s critique
From public finance to public economics
The importance of contingently public goods
The history of energy efficiency in economics
Anthony Downs and the Equilibrium Theory of Democracy
Walras, Musgrave et l’hétérogénéité entre les biens publics et les biens privés
Framing Institutional Choice, 1937–1973
The spontaneous provision of criminal law
Généalogie du principe d’équité horizontale. Une contribution à l’histoire de la normativité en théorie des finances publiques
Unlocking public infrastructures? State aid and the common European data space
Economists’ interest in collective decision after World War II
Paternalism and the Public Household
One Man a Committee Does Not Make
Exceptional and Unimportant
Markets and Public Goods
Commemorating Richard Musgrave (1910-2007)
The Theory of Externalities, Public Goods, and Club Goods
A Perilous Progress
A Reformulation of Certain Aspects of Welfare Economics
The Interpretation of Voting in the Allocation of Economic Resources
Ethical Rules, Expected Values, and Large Numbers
Public Economics
The Exchange and Enforcement of Property Rights
The Logic of Collective Action
Aspects of Public Expenditure Theories
The Pure Theory of Public Expenditure
Diagrammatic Exposition of a Theory of Public Expenditure
What Should Economists Do
The Pure Theory of Government Finance
An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy
A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures
An Economic Theory of Clubs
Notes on the Pure Theory of Public Finance
Efficiency vs. Equity in Public Finance
Public Goods, Market Failure, and Voluntary Exchange
From Continental Public Finance to Public Choice
Economics in America
Why Market Failures Are Not a Problem
Making Things Technical
Paul Samuelson on Public Goods
Market Failure in Context
The Rise of Free Market Economics
Progressivism and Academic Public Finance, 1880 to 1930
Sorting Charles Tiebout
| Unique citing works | 18 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 18 |