Public products are the symmetry of private products, which means products that are not competitive in consumption or use and have no exclusivity in income.

Also known as "public goods" and "public goods". Western personal capital. Refers to products or services that can be consumed or enjoyed by most people. Such as national defense, public safety and justice, as well as compulsory education and public welfare. The characteristic is that some people consume this product without affecting others to consume this product, which is non-competitive; The use of this product by some people will not exclude the use of other people, which is non-exclusive. Generally provided by the government or social groups.

Several important public products: national defense, order, environmental protection, science and technology, education and culture.

2. The basic characteristics of public goods

One is non-competitive. Some people's consumption of a product will not affect others' consumption of the product, and some people's benefit from the product will not affect others' benefit from the product. There is no conflict of interest among beneficiaries. For example, national defense protects all citizens, and its cost and benefits for each citizen will not change because of having one more child or going abroad alone.

The second is non-exclusivity. It means that the benefits generated by a product in the process of consumption cannot be exclusive to one person or some people. We can't exclude some people from the consumption process and prevent them from enjoying the benefits of this product. For example, eliminating air pollution is a service that can bring benefits to people. It enables all people to live in fresh air, and it is impossible for some people not to enjoy the benefits of fresh air.

The non-exclusiveness and non-competitiveness of public goods require public goods: first, production must be guaranteed by public expenditure; Second, management must be undertaken by non-profit organizations.

2. Classification of public goods

Public goods can be divided into pure public goods and quasi-public goods (that is, mixed goods).

Pure public goods

Generally speaking, public goods (pure public goods here) refer to those products consumed by the whole society. Strictly speaking, it is a non-competitive and non-exclusive product in the process of consumption, and it is a commodity and service that any one person's consumption of this product does not reduce the consumption of others.

Noncompetitiveness has two meanings: (1) the marginal cost is zero. The marginal cost mentioned here refers to the marginal cost brought by the supplier adding a consumer. For example, adding a TV viewer will not lead to an increase in transmission costs. (2) The marginal congestion cost is zero. The consumption of each consumer does not affect the consumption quantity and quality of other consumers. Such as national defense, foreign affairs, legislation, justice and government public safety, environmental protection, industrial and commercial administration and public products provided by administrative departments all belong to this category, and will not change because of the increase or decrease in the enjoyment of some people during this period. Increasing the number of consumers of such products will not reduce the consumption of any consumer, and increasing the number of consumers will not increase the cost of the products. It is not competitive in consumption and belongs to the product of benefit sharing.

Non-exclusiveness means that some products are put into the field of consumption, and no one can monopolize them. Moreover, we cannot exclude others from the consumption of this product and prevent them from enjoying the benefits of this product. If the owner has to do this, he will have to pay a high fee, so it is uneconomical, so he can't stop anyone from enjoying this product. For example, in environmental protection, air and noise pollution have been eliminated, bringing people fresh air and quiet environment. It is impossible to exclude people in this area from enjoying fresh air and quiet environment, which is technically non-exclusive.

In addition, pure public goods are inseparable, and their consumption is shared by many consumers on the premise of maintaining their integrity. For example, the security benefits brought by traffic police are inseparable. Visible, non-competitive, non-exclusive, indivisible pure public products have the nature of public consumption, that is, when consuming such products, consumers can only share, consumers can also share without being affected, and no one can be excluded from enjoying them. Public goods provided by management and administrative departments all belong to this category. Pure public goods include not only material products, but also various public services. Therefore, sometimes public goods and services are linked. In addition to the material products available for public consumption, the services provided by the government for the market, including government administrative and business services, are also public products. In other words, generalized public goods include both material public goods and spiritual public goods. Pure public goods are generally provided by the government.

Quasi-public products (mixed products)

Quasi-public products are also called "mixed products". This kind of product usually has only one of the above two characteristics, while the other is insufficient. The first category is non-exclusive and insufficient non-competitive public goods. For example, educational products fall into this category. Educational products are non-exclusive. Because, for students in the same classroom, while receiving education, A will not exclude B from attending classes. That is to say, when A consumes educational products, it does not exclude B's consumption, nor does it exclude B from gaining benefits. However, educational products are not completely competitive. Because, in a class, with the increase of the number of students, the school needs more desks and chairs; With the increase of the number of students, the burden and cost of teachers' correcting homework and extracurricular tutoring increase. Therefore, the educational cost of increasing the marginal number of students is not zero. If the number of students in a school exceeds a certain limit, the school must further increase the number of classes and teachers, and the cost will further increase. Therefore, it has certain consumption competitiveness. Because these products have certain consumption competitiveness, they are called quasi-public products.

The other is a quasi-public product with non-competitive characteristics but not exclusive. For example, public roads and public bridges belong to this type. Due to the limitation of specific road width, when car A uses a specific road section, it will exclude other vehicles from occupying the road section at the same time, otherwise there will be congestion. Therefore, the non-exclusiveness of the expressway is not sufficient. However, public roads are not competitive. The specific performance is as follows: first, the speed of vehicles passing through public roads does not determine someone's bid. Once there is congestion, there is no bidding level; Second, when the road does not reach the design traffic volume, the marginal cost of adding a certain number of cars is zero, but if it reaches or exceeds the design capacity and becomes very crowded, it needs to invest twice as much money to widen it, so the marginal cost cannot be calculated by a single car. Because this kind of public goods is non-competitive and not completely exclusive, it is also called quasi-public goods.

The scope of pure public goods is relatively narrow, but the scope of quasi-public goods is wider. Such as education, culture, broadcasting, television, hospitals, applied scientific research, sports, highways, agricultural and forestry technology promotion and other institutions that provide quasi-public products to the society. In addition, tap water, power supply, postal services, municipal construction, railways, ports, docks, urban public transport, etc. , which belongs to the category of enterprise accounting and quasi-public goods. Corresponding to the above-mentioned public products, private products can also be divided into two categories, namely pure private products and club products. Pure private products refer to those products with exclusive competition characteristics, including most private products. There is also a category called "club products". This refers to a certain range of products funded by individuals, and all individuals in this range can get benefits, such as consumer cooperatives. Quasi-public products are generally provided by quasi-public organizations or private individuals.

3. To be exact, higher education is a quasi-public product shared by the government and beneficiaries, while compulsory education is a public product undertaken by the government.

Reference answer:

1. public goods theory

Products produced by society can be divided into two categories, one is private products and the other is public products. Theoretically, American economist Paul was the first person to make a strict definition of public goods. Answer? In Economics (17th edition) revised and published by Samuelson in 2004, Samuelson defined public goods as: "The cost of extending the utility of this commodity to others is zero; You can't rule out sharing with others. " From this, we can infer two important attributes of public goods, namely non-competitiveness and non-exclusivity. Non-competitiveness means that if the utility of public goods is given, adding a consumer will not change the cost borne by the provider of the goods, nor will it reduce the utility obtained by the original consumers after adding consumers. There is no competition among consumers for the consumption of public goods. Non-exclusiveness means that existing consumers can't exclude other consumers from enjoying products, nor can they exclude consumers who don't pay. This may be because it is technically impossible, or it may be because it will cost a lot of money, which is the non-exclusivity of public goods. Non-exclusiveness means that public goods have greater external effects.

The non-exclusiveness and non-competitiveness of public goods determine that the market cannot be an effective provider, because the social marginal income of public goods is greater than the personal marginal income, and consumers decide the price they pay according to their own marginal income, not according to the interests of the whole society, and it is impossible to exclude those hitchhikers. Rational economic people will not produce such products, which will lead to insufficient supply of public goods. The actual consumers of public goods are rational people and must be provided by institutions that can charge all consumers according to social benefits. In modern society, the government is the most coercive. As the highest authority of a country, it can use coercive means to allocate the cost of public goods to taxpayers through taxation. Under the condition of market economy, the main task of government finance is to "provide goods or services with marginal social benefits greater than social costs, so that they cannot be effectively supplied through the market".

There are few products that strictly conform to Samuelson's definition of public goods, and the most typical one is national defense. Some products partially conform to the definition of public goods, that is, either competitive or exclusive, or a certain part conforms to the definition. Such products are called quasi-public products.

2. The nature of higher education and the functions of the government

The nature of higher education products will be discussed from two aspects: consumption and income of higher education products.

Higher education product consumption. China's higher education implements a cost-sharing policy, and students bear certain expenses. Students who don't pay tuition fees can't enter the school, so they are exclusive. Compared with the people's demand, the number of higher education in China is insufficient, and the admission opportunities and competitiveness are limited. In the case of a certain school scale, the increase in the number of students will lead to the decline in the quality of the original teaching conditions, and the school needs to invest costs to maintain the original teaching quality and be competitive.

Income from higher education products. Education enables the educated to obtain higher income and social status, which is the personal interest of the educated and cannot be shared by others, so it is competitive and exclusive; Education can make social economic growth faster and social development more harmonious, which is the social benefit brought by education, and all members of society can benefit from it. For society, the marginal cost of increasing consumers is zero, and other members cannot be excluded from this benefit, so it is not competitive and exclusive.

To sum up, higher education is competitive and exclusive in personal consumption and income, but the positive external effects of higher education make many social benefits, which are non-competitive and non-exclusive. Higher education is a quasi-public product with Samuelson's public product nature.

According to the theory of public goods, the government is the main provider of public goods, and quasi-public goods are only part of public goods, so the government can only bear part of the cost, while the beneficiaries bear the rest. As far as higher education is concerned, the government should play a fundamental role in the supply of higher education, because it has a great role in promoting social stability and social development. At this stage, this basic role is mainly manifested in three aspects: the government is the guarantor of higher education funds and should ensure the full supply of funds; The government is the supervisor of the use of higher education funds and should ensure the efficiency of the use of education funds; The government is the guardian of the fairness of higher education, and should provide financial assistance to the children of the poor class so that they will not lose the opportunity to enter school because of economic reasons. ? Try to live for the people you love and for your future. . . . ? ▍ War-Advance