Public action for public goods
By: Abhijit Banerjee, Lakshmi Iyer, Rohini Somanathan
Contributors: Lakshmi Iyer; Somanathan, Rohini; Harvard Business School. Division of Research
Series: Working paper / Division of Research, Harvard Business School -- 07-061; Working paper (Harvard Business School. Division of Research) -- 07-061
Publisher: Division of Research, Harvard Business School
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 38
Description: This paper focuses on the relationship between public action and access to public goods. It begins by developing a simple model of collective action which is intended to capture the various mechanisms that are discussed in the theoretical literature on collective action. We argue that several of these intuitive theoretical arguments rely on special additional assumptions that are often not made clear. We then review the empirical work based on the predictions of these models of collective action. While the available evidence is generally consistent with these theories, there is a dearth of quality evidence. Moreover, a large part of the variation in access to public goods seems to have nothing to do with the "bottom-up" forces highlighted in these models and instead reflect more "top-down" interventions. We conclude with a discussion of some of the historical evidence on top-down interventions.
Notes: "September 2006"--Added t.p.

Includes bibliographical references.