Social Sciences and History / Unit 7 SSH 0602 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Four Kinds of Goods: Sorting by Access and Supply
The idea
The anchor sorts goods by two questions, who may use them and whether use exhausts them, and the exam asks which kind a given good is. Private goods are provided by businesses and used only by those who pay. Public goods are provided by government, open to anyone, available to all without charge. Common goods may be used by all but are of limited supply. Toll goods are available to many but used only by those who pay the price.
In practice
Given "a loaf of bread", private. Given "national defense", public. Given "fish in a public lake", common. Given "a turnpike or a cable subscription", toll. Given "public land that overgrazing can ruin", common, and the anchor's example of what government regulates. Ask first whether paying is required, then whether one person's use leaves less for others.
Where people slip
The trap is calling anything the government provides a public good; a toll road is government-run and still a toll good. The second trap is public against common: both are open, but the common good runs out. Unit 13 owns the economists' version of this table.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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