Is the Space Elevator a Public Good?

[Fife]

Healthcare is not a public good either.

Dude, we're not in court, and anything that takes an entire paragraph to explain because there's no exact word for it because we want to be all semantic is just going to have to use a word that does exist. Maybe there is a word, I'm too lazy to be Googling this morning, and you're on a terror, so look it up, man.

What "word" are you blubbering about?

Healthcare is most definitely NOT a public good. That is so axiomatic as to shit up my OP. I'm interested in the gray areas and the future of human life, not dumbassed political pab.

[Martin Hash]

If you change the meaning of public good, then economists would have to invent a new term to mean what public good meant before you redefined it.

This is similar to a conundrum I'm having with my most recent podcast scripts about "socialism." Socialism has a meaning you can look up that includes all kinds of stuff, and if you're semantic about it, then the Soviet Union wasn't "socialist," and certainly Western Europe is not "socialist." But they ARE socialist because we don't have a word for just "group over individual."

p.s. I'm using "collectivism" but I have to explain it with a whole paragraph first.

[Fife]

It's too bad that none of your 17 degrees required ECON201.

We are talking about PUBLIC GOODS, not public policy, or feelz legislation.

[Martin Hash]

Dude, give me another word, I'll use it; until then, "public good" is going to need to stand in.

[Speaker to Animals]

Dude, give me another word, I'll use it; until then, "public good" is going to need to stand in.

You seem to be using the word good in the sense of good versus bad, but in the context of a public good, the word refers to something that satisfies want or activity (economic's definition of a good, i.e. goods and services). When we say something like a bridge is a public good, we mean that the bridge is a tangible good that is owned by the public and meets several criteria such as nonexcludibility and nonrivalrous consumption.

Given that, what you seem to be attempting to convey might better be coined as universal benefit. You describe something that is a net benefit to everybody as a collective whole.

In that sense, a public good would be a kind of universal benefit. Universal health care would be a kind of universal benefit that does not meet the criteria of a public good.

[Martin Hash]

In that sense, a public good would be a kind of universal benefit. Universal health care would be a kind of universal benefit that does not meet the criteria of a public good.

Good enough. I wasn't looking for a debate, I was looking for a word for when I need it in a podcast.

[Speaker to Animals]

It's a valid need for a word. I don't deny that.

I am not sure if universal benefit is the best choice, but I think it better fits than trying to re-purpose public good.

[Speaker to Animals]

I hate wikipedia, but they do have a simple rubric that illustrates the relationship between excludibility and rivalry in goods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goods#Types_of_goods

[TheReal_ND]

There is a word. I was trying to think of it but it escapes me.

muh liberty

snekmemes.jpg

muh magic dirt

zeitgeist

snowflake

spoiled

idk... I feel like there is a word. Off to the liquor store!

[Speaker to Animals]

A space elevator could at least also be a private or club good. I don't think it fits the definition of public good. Though if the state were to pay for it and make its use somehow "directly" free for anybody to use, then it might fit.