THE PRIVATE PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC-GOODS, ONCE AGAIN

Anthony de Jasay attempts to demonstrate that public goods can be supplied privately without loss of efficiency, since there may be enough people willing to finance public-goods production voluntarily, even at the risk of subsidizing free riders, rather than risk that public goods will not be produced at all. Jasay's argument rests on the implausible assumption that the goods in question are completely indivisible. This assumption forces persons interested in having a given public good either to finance it or do without it entirely; they do not have the option of financing smaller quantities or poorer qualities of the good.