Public goods, as distinct from private goods, are collectively consumed. Two important features of public goods are:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Non-rivalrous and non-excludable.
The two features of public goods, such as a public park, are:
Non-rivalrous: one person’s use does not reduce the amount available to others. A chocolate eaten by one person is not there for anyone else, but many people can enjoy a park together.
Non-excludable: there is no workable way of keeping anyone away from the benefits. A cinema hall can refuse a person without a ticket, but the benefits of cleaner air reach everyone.
A private good has the opposite features: it is rivalrous and excludable. Public goods make it hard to collect fees, so private firms will in general not provide them.
Note: A same/similar question was asked in CUET (UG) in the papers below.
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| 23-05 S2 | 15-05 S1 27-05 S2 | – | 10-06 S3* | 06-08 S2 |
* A similar question.
NCERT (2026-27): “Allocation Function of Government Budget … To understand why public goods need to be provided by the government, we must understand the difference between private goods such as clothes, cars, food items etc. and public goods. There are two major differences. One, the benefits of public goods are available to all and are not only restricted to one particular consumer. For example, if a person eats a chocolate or wears a shirt, these will not be available to others. It is said that this person’s consumption stands in rival relationship to the consumption of others. However, if we consider a public park or measures to reduce air pollution, the benefits will be available to all. One person’s consumption of a good does not reduce the amount available for consumption for others and so several people can enjoy the benefits, that is, the consumption of many people is not ‘rivalrous’.… …Two, in case of private goods anyone who does not pay for the goods can be excluded from enjoying its benefits. If you do not buy a ticket, you will not be allowed to watch a movie at a local cinema hall. However, in case of public goods, there is no feasible way of excluding anyone from enjoying the benefits of the good. That is why public goods are called non-excludable.… Summary …Public goods, as distinct from private goods, are collectively consumed. Two important features of public goods are – they are non-rivalrous in that one person can increase her satisfaction from the good without reducing that obtained by others and they are non-excludable, and there is no feasible way of excluding anyone from enjoying the benefits of the good. These make it difficult to collect fees for their use and private enterprise will in general not provide these goods. Hence, they must be provided by the government.…” |