Analysis of Public, Private, & Quasi-Public Goods in the UK Economy

This report provides an analysis of the provision of public, private, and quasi-public goods within the UK economy, emphasizing the role of government intervention and its impact on market dynamics. It explores the reasons why the UK economy requires a mix of these goods, examines instances where the UK government faces challenges in providing access to public and quasi-public goods, and discusses the concepts of merit and demerit goods, including their positive and negative impacts on society. Furthermore, the report evaluates the policies and funding mechanisms employed by the UK government to enhance access to merit goods while discouraging the consumption of demerit goods, assessing the effectiveness of these interventions in ensuring fair provision. The report concludes by highlighting the significance of understanding these economic principles for effective governance and societal well-being. Desklib offers a platform to access similar solved assignments and study resources.

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Executive summary
The public goods, private goods and semi quasi products are the different needs and
requirements of the people in society. This become essential that the government ensure a proper
supply of all its products so that customers and the people of country can match up with all its
needs and requirements (Lomba and et.al., 2020). This is important for the government to ensure
a proper control over the utilisation of all different products and its supply so that customers can
get the product at the time it is needed. The government has followed the practice of privatising
the supply and production of different private goods, public goods and semi quasi goods' inn the
market. This could allow the easy and convenient access to the people over different types of
goods and products. This is significant for the people to ensure the proper availability of the
products so that they can match up with all its various needs and requirements. The government
interventions in the price related practices, quality related practices could support the overall
growth of the market in availing the supply properly of all its various goods and products in
market.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
1. Reason why UK economy requires public, quasi- public and private goods..........................4
2. Analysis of examples of UK government having difficulty in providing access to public and
quasi- public goods.....................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
1. Merit and demerit goods in UK market and their positive and negative impact on society.. .6
2. Ways in which UK government used policies and funding for improving access to merit
goods and how it discourages and reduce access demerit goods................................................7
3. Explanation that whether UK government intervention did or did not effectively addressed
fair provision of merit goods.......................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Business economics is a concept of economics that is associated with the business. This
report will discuss the different concepts and aspects associated with the public goods, private
goods, quasi-public goods and such like products. Henceforth, report will emphasis over the
different economic theories provided by the Krugman & Wells textbook (2020, 5th edition). The
current economic situation would also analysis to understand about the economic aspects or
elements associated with the economic theory. Examples will also be a part of this report about
the United Kingdom market for providing different public goods, private goods, quasi-public
goods and such like products (Leyland, 2021). Certain difficulties in providing access to the
different private, public, semi quasi goods will also demonstrate as a part of this project. The
United Kingdom public spending over the aspect to allocate different goods will also have done
under this project. The impact of the United Kingdom public spending campaign to allocate the
various private goods, public goods and such like products to the public. Furthermore, this
project will also discuss the various merits and demerits of the economic theories that could have
been used to allocate the different types of goods and products. The interventions associated by
the government in United Kingdom to deliver the proper supply of different private goods,
public goods, semi quasi goods to the people. This project would target the reader to understand
the significance of different types of goods in context to its customers along with the government
involvement to delegate the various types of goods and products.
TASK 1
1. Reason why UK economy requires public, quasi- public and private goods
The government of the country can provide different types of the products to their
consumers. Hence, this will result in effective working of the UK government and the UK
economy. The major reason pertaining to this fact is that when the goods will be provided to the
consumers then this will result in increase in economic development of the country. Hence, this
will improve the national income of the country and will result in development of the country.
The public goods are being defined as the good which when supplied to the individual is
immediately made available to others at no charges. Thus, they are treated as the free rider
problem and no charges are being charged by the service of goods providers (Public goods,
2021). On the other hand, the private goods are the one whose ownership is restricted to only the

person or group has purchased for their own consumption. Hence, as these products are being
purchased for the personal consumption and due to this they are treated as the private goods.
Whereas, the quasi- public goods are the one who have characteristics of both the private and
public goods.
The UK economy under the economic theories of Krugman and Wells requires a
combination of all the public, quasi- public and the private goods for the effective development
of the country. This is pertaining to the fact that when the goods are being provided to the
consumer then this will result in the effective development of the business and will result in the
overall development of the economy. The UK market is failing to provide access to necessary
private goods. This is pertaining to the fact that when the government will allow for the private
goods then this will result in non- attainment of the profits of the company. hence, it is very
important for the government to promote the consumption of the public and quasi- public goods.
The major reason underlying this fact is that when the government will provide their product and
services then this will result in increase in public and social welfare and will improve the
economic condition of the country.
In addition to this, the public goods provide an example of the market failure which
results in the missing market. This is pertaining to the fact that when the public goods are not
being promoted effectively then this will result in ineffective working of the government and
other public organizations. Also, the UK government fails to provide access to the necessary
private goods. This is pertaining to the fact that when the private goods will be promoted within
the market then this will result in the decrease in sales of the public and quasi- public goods.
Hence, this will not be promoted by the government of UK. In addition to this, the government
of the country will not be promoting the public good and quasi- public goods.
2. Analysis of examples of UK government having difficulty in providing access to public and
quasi- public goods
The government of UK finds difficulty in providing access to public and quasi- public
goods. This is pertaining to the fact that the private goods are being promoted by the private
companies who does not find much difficulty in promoting the goods. On the other side, the
public and quasi- public goods are the one who have several characteristics which makes the
working and promotion of the goods a little difficult (Public goods and market failure, 2021).
The major characteristics of the public goods is that they are non- excludable that is once they

are supplied the potential users cannot be prevented from deriving the benefits of that product.
For instance, the lighting is being provided by the government and the consumer has to
undertake the supply of lighting and they use it whether the require it or not.
In addition to this another major feature of the public and quasi- public goods is that they
are non- diminishable that is when the consumer uses the good then the stock available to the
consumer does not diminish. For instance, the government supplies electricity to the consumer
and the supply of electricity never diminishes. More, along with this another feature which is
associated with the public and quasi- public good is non- rejectability. This is pertaining to the
fact that when the government provides some services then the consumer cannot reject it. For
example, the water supply being provided by the government and now the consumer cannot
reject the use of the water supply (Public goods, 2021).
Hence, due to the major reason that government is not promoting the public goods is that
the government will not be benefitted by these goods. The reason behind this fact is that when
the government will provide these services then they will not charge money from the consumers.
Hence, this will result in decrease in profits for the government and will not promote the
economic development. Hence, the government is trying to privatise all these services so that
good amount of profit can be earned and can be utilised in economic development.
TASK 2
1. Merit and demerit goods in UK market and their positive and negative impact on society.
The merit goods are the one which are good for the consumer and the overall economy
and unlike the public goods they can be provided privately. The major example of the merit
goods is the health and education. These are the services of the government which are provided
for the benefit of the sociality and these can be provided privately as well. the positive impact of
merit good over society are as follows-
The major benefit is that these goods will definitely result in the overall development of
the economy. This is pertaining to the fact that when the education will be good then they
employment opportunities will be good within the economy.
In addition to this, when healthcare service of economy will be good then this will result
in the better health and safety of the economy. This in turn will result in overall development of
the economy.

On the other hand, the demerit goods are the one which are bad for the person. The most
common example of the demerit goods within the UK economy is alcohol, cigarettes and other
drugs (Demerit goods, 2021). Generally, these demerit goods are overconsumed and not good for
the society.
The major negative impact of these goods over the UK economy is that this will increase
the death rates within the economy. This is pertaining to the fact that all these demerit products
are not good for health and they are being over- consumed. Hence this will result in more death
of the people within the economy.
Hence, with the above evaluation it is clear that the merit goods provide benefit to the
society and on the other side, demerit good result in economy to lose. On comparison it can be
seen that merit good improves the economic condition of the country. Whereas the demerit
goods decrease the economic development of the country.
2. Ways in which UK government used policies and funding for improving access to merit goods
and how it discourages and reduce access demerit goods
With the above evaluation it is clear that for the UK government it is essential to promote
the merit goods and to reduce the consumption of the demerit goods. Hence, the policies used for
improving the access of merit goods is as follows-
Providing of subsidies to the merit goods can improve the production and promotion of
the merit goods within the economy. This is pertaining to the fact that when the government will
provide subsidy then this will encourage the merit good providers to increase their working and
as a result of this the merit goods consumption will increase.
In addition to this, for the funding of merit goods such as healthcare, funding is very
essential. For this reason, different funding options can be selected like publicly funded,
privately funded and others (Healthcare as a merit good, 2021).
On the other hand, it is also essential for the government of UK to discourage the
consumption of the demerit goods. This is necessary for the government as demerit goods are not
beneficial for the society. hence, the steps undertaken for discouraging demerit goods are as
follows-
The major step for discouraging the consumption of demerit goods is to place taxes over
the consumption of the demerit goods. This is very essential for the decreasing of consumption
of demerit goods by general public. The reason underlying the fact is that when the taxes will be

high then consumers will consume these products in less quantity or will not consume. Hence, as
a result of this demerit good consumption will be reduced.
In addition to this, the government can also place some legal restriction as to the use of
demerit goods. For instance, government of UK has set the minimum legal age of 18 for the
consumption of alcohol which is a strategy to restrict a child from consuming alcohols.
3. Explanation that whether UK government intervention did or did not effectively addressed fair
provision of merit goods
The government in United Kingdom has been involved under the different practices
associated with the merit goods. The interventions of the government could control the prices of
the respective products. This could benefit to the people in availing the respective products at a
very affordable rate or price structure. The buying power of the customer is limited that further
allowed and opposed to the government to set up the maximum retail price like practices so that
organisations and ventures do not charge more than the required money against providing the
different merit goods. The merit is also provided under the quality assurance of the merit goods.
This is essential part that government has played by controlling the quality of the merit goods.
This become essential for the customers and people in market to undertake the quality against the
prices they are paying to undertake different merit goods in the market (Damoah and et.al.,
2018). This make it significant for the businesses to ensure a proper quality control so that
customer can satisfy against the use of the product. This make it more significant for the
government to focus over the quality of all these merit good so that better conditions and market
could have been created where along with the business houses even the business units can stay
happy. For example, in the past three years’ government in United Kingdom has controlled the
prices of the health care, museums fees and such like products so that customer does not need to
pay anything that the business houses are demanding for in against to allocate the respective
products in market.
The demerit of the government involvement is that this could take away the freedom of
the business houses to undertake the policies. This is important that control also create hustles for
the business units in allocating the same products in a different way. This become essential and
important for the businesses to cope up with all the necessary guidelines issued by the
government that create extra burden related to time and financial resources invested in dealing
with all those requirements (Murakami, Villani and Talamini, 2021). This is a strong demerit

against the government interventions in different practices part of the merit goods. The market
must be volatile in nature that require businesses a certain level of freedom but the government
involvement create a glitch on allocating the freedom to the business units.
CONCLUSION
The supply and its availability of the different private goods, public goods and semi quasi
products in the market is that it gets influenced with the all possible economic theories available
in the market. Economic theories related to pricing, demand and all other influence and effect all
types of products and goods available in the market. The government took a step to privatise all
the possible areas. This could create advantage or merit for the customers that they get a proper
supply of all these products but the demerit is like prices are quite high. This can certainly
indicate the fact that the government involvement creates both positive and negative impact over
the merit good supply in market. It could ensure customer oriented practices but this also affect
the operations of business entities in a negative manner.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Damoah, I. S. And et.al., 2018. Corruption as a source of government project failure in
developing countries: Evidence from Ghana. Project Management Journal. 49(3).
pp.17-33.
Leyland, P., 2021. The constitution of the United Kingdom: A contextual analysis. Bloomsbury
Publishing.
Lomba, A. and et.al., 2020. Back to the future: rethinking socioecological systems underlying
high nature value farmlands. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 18(1). pp.36-
42.
Murakami, J., Villani, C. and Talamini, G., 2021. The capital value of pedestrianization in Asia's
commercial cityscape: Evidence from office towers and retail streets. Transport policy.
107. pp.72-86.
Online
Demerit goods. 2021. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Market_failures/Demerit_goods.html >
Healthcare as a merit good. 2021. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Market_failures/Healthcare.html>
Public goods and market failure. 2021. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/public-goods >
Public goods. 2021. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Definitions/Public_good.html >