Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T21:53:28.123Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Free-Rider Problems in the Production of Collective Goods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2008

Jean Hampton
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh

Extract

There has been a persistent tendency to identify what is called “the freerider problem” in the production of collective (or public) goods with the prisoner's dilemma. However, in this article I want to challenge that identification by presenting an analysis of what are in fact a variety of collective action problems in the production of collective goods. My strategy is not to consult any intuitions about what the free-rider problem is; rather I will be looking at the problematic game-theoretic structures of various situations associated with the production of different types of collective goods, thereby showing what sorts of difficulties a community concerned with their voluntary production would face. I call all of these dilemmas free-rider problems because in all of them certain individuals find it rational to take advantage of others' willingness to contribute to the good in a way that threatens its production. Some readers may feel that the term ‘free-rider problem’ is so identified with the prisoner's dilemma that my extension of the term in this way “jars”; if so, I invite them to coin another word for the larger phenomenon. My aim is not to engage in linguistic analysis but to attempt at least a partial analysis of the complicated structure of collective good production.

Type
Essays
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barry, Brian. 1982. “Political Participation as Rational Action.” In Rational Man and Irrational Society? edited by Barry, Brian and Russell, Hardin. Beverly Hills, Cal.: Sage.Google Scholar
Buchanan, James. 1975. The Limits of Liberty. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Elster, Jon. 1979. Ulysses and the Sirens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Frohlich, Norman, Hunt, Thomas, Oppenheimer, Joe, and Wagner, R. Harrison, 1975. “Individual Contributions for Collective Goods: Alternative Models.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 19:310–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frohlich, Norman, and Oppenheimer, Joe. 1970. “I get by with a little help from my friends.” World Politics 23:104–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frohlich, Norman, and Oppenheimer, Joe. 1978. Modern Political Economy. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Frohlich, Norman, Oppenheimer, Joe, and Young, Oran. 1971. Political Leadership and Collective Goods. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hampton, Jean. 1986. Hobbes and the Social Contract Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hardin, Russell. 1971. “Collective Action as an Agreeable n-Prisoner's Dilemma.” Behavioural Science 16: 472–79. Reprinted in Rational Man and Irrational Society? edited by Brian Barry and Russell Hardin. Beverly Hills, Cal.: Sage, 1982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardin, Russell. 1982. Collective Action. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirshleifer, Jack. 1983. “From Weakest Link to Best-Shot: The Voluntary Provision of Public Goods.” Public Choice 41: 371–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hume, David. 1978. A Treatise of Human Nature. Edited by Selby-Bigge, L.A., and revised by Nidditch, P. H.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jeffrey, Richard. 1965. The Logic of Decision. New York: McGraw-Hill. Reprinted 1983.Google Scholar
Lewis, David. 1969. Convention. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Luce, R., and Raiffa, H. 1957. Games and Decisions. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Reprinted 1971.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettit, Philip. 1986. “Free Riders and Foul Dealers.” Journal of Philosophy 83: 361–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 1967. “Isolation, Assurance, and the Social Rate of Discount.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 81:112–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 1973. On Economic Inequality. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schelling, Thomas. 1973. “Hockey Helmets, Concealed Weapons, and Daylight Savings.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 17: 381428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Michael, and Ward, Hugh. 1982. “Chickens, Whales, and Lumpy Goods: Alternative Models of Public Goods Provision.” Political Science 30: 350–70.Google Scholar
Tuck, Richard. 1979. “Is There a Free-Rider Problem, and If So, What Is It?” In Rational Action, edited by Harrison, Ross. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wright, Crispin. 1976. “Language-Mastery and the Sorites Paradox.” In Truth and Meaning, edited by Evans, G.E. and McDowell, J.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar