POL SCI 21A Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Bloomberg Businessweek, Thomas Hobbes
26 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Collective goods: goods/services that benefit everyone/the general public regardless of who contributes --> therein the problem lies. Hobbesian state of nature: chaotic dystopia where citizens are unwilling or unable to do anything more than protect themselves; war of all against all . Collective action problems: situations where achieving a group goal requires members to coordinate and/or cooperate. Arise when group members would benefit from working together but are unsure how to coordinate their efforts. Arise when group members can benefit from others efforts without contributing themselves. If they have little impact on whether the group will succeed or fail. Ex: national defense - everyone benefits but not everyone contributes. Unlike coordination problems (where everyone has incentives to work together), free rider problems give incentives to work against one another. New york times --> rise of cable and internet free-riding news from these publishers without having to dig for themselves; simply reporting and taking credit.
