UNESCO and the Free-Rider Problem

This past week the US announced it will be pulling out of UNESCO, the UN’s cultural arm. UNESCO’s purpose is to spread peace and security worldwide through education, science, and culture, and to generally promote justice and human rights. The Trump administration says it is pulling out because of “mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO”, but regardless of the Trump administration’s opinion on UNESCO, there is clear incentive for the administration to leave the organization and free-ride by enjoying the benefits of UNESCO without paying to be a part of it.

If we just look at the costs and the benefits of being a member versus not being a member from the administration’s perspective, the decision to leave UNESCO can be explained by the free-rider problem. By leaving UNESCO the US will give up the ability to influence the policy and action of UNESCO, but the US (or at least the current administration) does not believe it has the ability to alter its policy anyways. If we make the assumption that UNESCO will basically act the same way with or without the US as a part of it then we can assume the benefits the US receives from it will be pretty much the same. When the US pulls out, UNESCO will be less well funded, but for the most part be the same, so the US has very little to lose in terms of direct benefits from UNESCO’s work and will save $500 million that it owes in unpaid past dues and millions in dues going forward. Even if the administration agreed with the policy and work of UNESCO completely, the same incentive to free-ride would exist when we assume the benefits will not change.