Assertion (A): Roads are an example of public goods.
Reason (R): Public goods may be produced by the government or by the private sector.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Both (A) and (R) are true but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A).
Assertion (A): Roads are an example of public goods. — True. Roads are named with national defence and government administration as public goods.
Reason (R): Public goods may be produced by the government or by the private sector. — True. Who produces the good is a separate matter from who pays for it.
Why R does not explain A?
R only says who can produce a public good. It does not say why a road is a public good at all.
The real reason is that roads cannot be provided by the market mechanism: their benefits are open to all, and no user can easily be excluded.
NCERT (2026-27): “Allocation Function of Government Budget Government provides certain goods and services which cannot be provided by the market mechanism i.e. by exchange between individual consumers and producers. Examples of such goods are national defence, roads, government administration etc. which are referred to as public goods. … There is, however, a difference between public provision and public production. Public provision means that they are financed through the budget and can be used without any direct payment. Public goods may be produced by the government or the private sector. When goods are produced directly by the government it is called public production.” |