As an avid cyclist, Charlottesville provides me with a fantastic playground for endless adventures on two wheels. One of my favorite places to ride is on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The BRP is considered to be a Public Good because it is non-excludable and non-rivalrous in consumption. As the fall season progresses, people travel from across the country to experience and view the beautiful fall foliage that can be seen along the BRP, all for free because there are no tolls or entrance costs.
On Wednesday, I found myself riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway; however, this time the BRP felt rivalrous in consumption. Other BRP visitors zipped past me in cars, motorcycles, and loud groups of people overcrowded the beautiful overlooks. These negative externalities I faced as a fellow user of the BRP damaged my own consumption. Upon my exiting the BRP, I noticed the swiveling “road closed” gate, usually used for winter storms. I thought to myself: if I just closed the gates, I could make the BRP excludable, so that once again I could reap the benefits and enjoy the BRP to the fullest. Closing the gates would exclude all motorized traffic and tourists from entering, and would only allow the adventurous cyclists and hikers who dare to duck underneath the closed gate. Alas, I decided the cost of closing the gate, a stern talk and ticket from a park ranger, was greater than the marginal damage that I felt on the overcrowded BRP, so I pointed my two wheels back to UVA, and pedaled home.
On Wednesday, I found myself riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway; however, this time the BRP felt rivalrous in consumption. Other BRP visitors zipped past me in cars, motorcycles, and loud groups of people overcrowded the beautiful overlooks. These negative externalities I faced as a fellow user of the BRP damaged my own consumption. Upon my exiting the BRP, I noticed the swiveling “road closed” gate, usually used for winter storms. I thought to myself: if I just closed the gates, I could make the BRP excludable, so that once again I could reap the benefits and enjoy the BRP to the fullest. Closing the gates would exclude all motorized traffic and tourists from entering, and would only allow the adventurous cyclists and hikers who dare to duck underneath the closed gate. Alas, I decided the cost of closing the gate, a stern talk and ticket from a park ranger, was greater than the marginal damage that I felt on the overcrowded BRP, so I pointed my two wheels back to UVA, and pedaled home.
Although my experience makes it seem as though the BRP should not be considered a public good, it rather reinforces Buchanan’s point that public goods fall along a continuum. Public goods can have a degree of “privateness,” and in this case that privateness can be seen in the overcrowding of the BRP, calling for an optimal level of sharing given by Ui = Ui[(Xi1, Nii), (Xi2, Ni2),...,(Xin+m, Nin+m)].
1 comment:
Eddie, great post! I enjoyed reading it and thought the isights you brought were valuable. So in class, we've always talked about public goods as a market failure because there is the problem of free riders. But in your example, you talked about another draw back: the perception of rivalry. It is interesting to look at how the government attempts to 1) remedy this problem and 2) prevent people from taking the problem into their own hands. Remedies in this situation could constitute anything from bike lanes to lower speed limits. What's more interesting to me was that the threat of a ticket and stern talking deterred you enough from taking the matter into your own had. I wonder if this price calculation holds out for everyone.
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