New Strategies for the Provision of Global Public Goods: Learning from the International Environmental Challenge

Abstract:     
The world of public goods has changed in the last quarter century. Many of the changes have their origins in massively increased human impacts on the biosphere, and in particular on important life support systems such as the carbon cycle, and on resources such as biodiversity, which operate as public goods that are privately provided. These goods have quite particular characteristics that may enhance the possibility of reaching durable international agreements concerning their provision. Adoption spillovers are important in this context: they can mitigate the normal free rider effect associated with public good provision. The private production of these public goods makes it natural to seek to use markets to manage their provision.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 33

Keywords: Public goods, global, environment, free rider, international agreement, fixed costs, adoption spillover

JEL Classification: H4, Q2, Q3

working papers series