Downtown Busking

On Tuesday night, my girlfriend and I celebrated our two years of dating by going downtown and eating at C&O (the braised lamb was great). After dinner, we were walking to Kilroy’s when we passed a man busking on the street with his guitar. 

As we walked by, I contemplated leaving cash in his guitar case, which he conveniently left open to allow for payment. Unfortunately, I do not actually carry cash, so that idea quickly dissipated. While we enjoyed his performance of a Maroon 5 song, I was struck by the realization that I was free-riding. The music he was playing was being enjoyed by many people walking downtown and those seated nearby, enhancing their experience of downtown, but without any feasible way to exclude anyone from consuming it nor rivalry between those consuming.

Despite this fact, the public good was being provided without any government intervention, as the man was playing there voluntarily. While he may have had some expectation of payment, it was obvious that his perceived utility-maximizing option was to produce in a public space nonetheless. Although I did not ask him, I believe that he would be producing music regardless of any audience, perhaps for his own enjoyment. As such, it must have been rational to play downtown whether for the opportunity to receive some compensation, to be noticed by employers and find market opportunities, or merely his own altruism to see strangers smile (as Gruber defines in chapter 7).