alleryStart learning →Comparing a slice of pizza with a lighthouse beam shows that the pizza is:
AImpossible to withhold
BFunded only by taxes
CUsed up by one consumer
DAvailable to all at once
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. Used up by one consumer
1. The contrast is drawn to isolate the two defining properties.
2. To understand the defining characteristics of a public good, first consider an ordinary private good, like a piece of pizza.
3. The pizza is rival: one person eating it leaves none for anyone else.
4. The lighthouse beam is nonrivalrous, so every ship sees it at once.
5. That difference in rivalry is independent of who happens to pay for either.
_Source: OpenStax Principles of Microeconomics for AP(R) Courses 2e (CC BY 4.0), Ch 13 'Positive Externalities and Public Goods', sections 13.1-13.4_
Keep practising Positive Externalities and Public Goods
Browse all Positive Externalities and Public Goods questions for AP Microeconomics, or explore more Economics topics.
Related questions
Complete the public goods ruleWhich property does it show?True or false: public goodsMatch each public goods termPrivate good or public good?The reason technology counts as a positive externality is that its benefits reach:A tornado siren cannot be sold like a private good because the supplier cannot:Intellectual property rights work by converting an idea from a public good into something: