Public goods are not sold in efficient quantities in the marketplace because:
A)once supplied to a buyer, they are made available at no cost to someone else.
B)the more one person has, the less another person has.
C)they are usually so costly that only the wealthy can afford them.
D)they are usually very poor quality goods.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Public goods are non-exclusive, meaning that once a good is provided to one consumer, it is available to anyone else to use for free. This creates a free-rider problem, where people have an incentive to not pay for the good and instead rely on others to finance it. Consequently, public goods are usually underprovided in the marketplace. The other options given are not accurate reasons why public goods are not sold in efficient quantities.

Public Goods Are Not Sold in Efficient Quantities in the Marketplace