The foundation of government

9 important questions on The foundation of government

Justifications for the existence of governments

Governments could be justified because they:
•are solutions to situations of strategic interaction (games) •are providers of public goods •regulate activities that produce externalities

Prisoner’s Dilemma

A Prisoner’s Dilemma situation exists when:

Each would be better off in his/her own judgement, at least in the long run, if all would impose certain restrictions upon their behaviour.

and individual compliance with these restrictions results into a considerable disadvantage compared to non-compliers, whereas the negative overall effect of one or a few non-compliers is relatively small.

The concept of a solution to a (repeated) Prisoner’s Dilemma game

•A contractual agreement that binds players to a strategy that leads to outcomes that are better for all players (in their own judgement) than without the agreement.
•Assumptions: •There is communication. •It is possible to make binding agreements.
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The state and the provision of public goods

To achieve a Pareto-optimal production (and consumption) of public goods, an institution is needed that coordinates the financial contributions (to the production of the public goods) of all individuals who benefit from the public goods.
In the absence of such coordination, too little of the public good is being produced

Externalities seen from the perspective of restricted liberty and reciprocity 

•Someone who engages in activities causing negative externalities is violating the right of others to be safeguarded. In order to respect that right, the consent of all those who experience the negative externality is required. If that consent is lacking, the actor should be liable for the harm or risk associated with the negative externality.

Objection to Coase’s analysis

The Coase “theorem” is indifferent about the ethical status of the actually existing rights and legal conditions. I.e. indifferent about SQ or SQ’. Is that correct/fair?

What is the role of the government according to allocative efficiency

According to which the role of a government is to create positive sum or win-win solutions

What is the redistribution viewpoint?

According to which governments are executors of zero sum or win-loose situations, in which the gain of one is another’s loss.

Hypotheses as to why redistribution occur

3.1   Redistribution as insurance
3.2   Redistribution as a public good
3.3   Redistribution to satisfy fairness norms
3.4   Redistribution to improve allocative efficiency
3.5   Redistribution as taking


The hypotheses/motives described under 1-4 see redistribution as something that can occur with the consent of all.
•It may thus be argued that in that case we are dealing with examples of allocative efficiency rather than redistribution.

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