Social Contract, Free Ride: Study of the Public Goods Problem - Hardcover

De Jasay, Anthony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198244746 ISBN 13: 9780198244745

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1989

Synopsis

This study provides a novel account of the public goods dilemma. The author shows how our present system, in its quest for fairness, helps to breed the parasitic "free riding" it is meant to suppress. He assesses alternatives such as spontaneous group co-operation, which would imply some degree of free riding, and suggests that these groups would eventually drift from voluntary to compulsory solutions. Professor de Jasay argues that these perverse incentives are the principal cause of the poor functioning of organized society. Anthony de Jasay is also the author of "The State".

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198244746
• ISBN 13: 9780198244745
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 262