Public good

A form of property.

Is a good that is both non-excludable and non-rivalrous.

Best example in this context is the Internet, a basket of open source software technologies, the standards bodies that develop and maintain core protocols, networking and routing software, the operating systems that power routers, modems and servers, a mix of public and private physical infrastructure, and laws that protect access and use.

Public goods problems are often closely related to the "free-rider" problem, in which people not contributing (ex. deploying efforts for maintenance, replenishing, developing, sometimes contributions in cash) for the good may continue to access it. Thus, the good may be under-produced, overused or degraded.

Public goods may also become subject to restrictions on access and may then be considered to be club goods; exclusion mechanisms include toll roads, congestion pricing, and pay television with an encoded signal that can be decrypted only by paid subscribers.

Like with commons public goods require governance. Public goods can be captured, for example by private interests, for private exploitation and rent collection. Thus, they need the protection of the state and an active lobby to avoid capture. Ex. privatization of public transportation infrastructure, conversion of a public park in real estate developments. They are usually managed by public institutions, such as governments (local, regional, national or even international). This is in stark difference from Nondominium goods, which do not require protection from any institution. Ex. Bitcoin is a Nondominium form of property. The network (not individual mining computers), which offers the service, is not private property (it is not subject to the will of one or a group of individuals) and it is not public property (it does not need the protection of the state to exist and the stake cannot kill it).

A commons good is such as wild fish stocks in the ocean, which is non-excludable but rivalrous to a certain degree. If too many fish were harvested, the stocks would deplete, limiting the access of fish for others.