公共物品供给的“搭便车”问题及解决之道

Brief Discussion on Free-Riding Problem of Public Goods Supply and Its Solution

公共物品具有非排他性和非竞争性,这使得每个人无论是否付出代价都会得到相关受益,由此而产生的"搭便车"问题降低了经济运行效率。然而长久以来经济学家们一直强调公共物品供给不足是由"市场失灵"引起,应依靠政府解决供给短缺及"搭便车"问题。但是在提供公共物品的不同制度安排中,政府等公共部门不过是其中备选方案之一。从集体行动理论的角度分析,政府提供公共物品未必能解决"搭便车"问题,私人供给可以发挥市场效率的优势,减少公共物品的"搭便车"问题。

Public goods have characteristics of non-rival and non-exclusive,which leads to the problem that everyone can get the benefits no matter whether he pay for them or not.Free-riding problem triggered by that phenomenon decreases economic efficiency.However,some economists insist on that supply shortage of public goods is led by“market failure”.In that case,it is government that should be responsible for supplying public goods.But among different institutional arrangements of public goods supply,government is just an al-ternative one.Based on the research of the collective action theory,private sector instead of government can solve the free-riding problem well by increasing market efficiency.