How Public Goods Have Evolved And Why They May Be Difficult To Provide By The Nation State

This is a big article by a big thinker. Perhaps David Brooks should read it. He seems to like big ideas but he does not understand what they are. He thinks that his political party understands what they are but they happen to be ideas that have outlived whatever usefulness they might have had 200 years ago.

Matin Wolf begins the article with a discussion of public goods. He provides some history of how public goods have evolved over time and he comes to the conclusion that we have a scarcity of public goods. Moreover, it will be hard to satisfy the need for public goods. For example, economic stability is a public good. In a global economy it is difficult for a nation state to provide economic stability. A global financial crisis was started in the US and it created problems in the rest of the world. Now we have a crisis in the eurozone and it will trigger problems elsewhere if it is not resolved. Fixing the problems inherent in our financial systems will not be possible without a degree of cooperation between nation states that is uncommon. Similarly, climate change is a major problem. Climate stability is a public good that will require cooperation between nation states that has not been forthcoming. Each state is primarily concerned about its economy and vested interests in each nation state attempt to influence government decisions on how to respond to the problem.

The bottom line is that the need for public goods is expanding and that the nature of public goods is changing. Our ability to provide the needed public goods may have surpassed the ability of nation states to provide them.