A Network Approach to Public Goods

S-Tier
Journal: Journal of Political Economy
Year: 2019
Volume: 127
Issue: 2
Pages: 730 - 776

Authors (2)

Matthew Elliott (not in RePEc) Benjamin Golub (Northwestern University)

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Suppose that agents can exert costly effort that creates nonrival, heterogeneous benefits for each other. At each possible outcome, a weighted, directed network describing marginal externalities is defined. We show that Pareto efficient outcomes are those at which the largest eigenvalue of the network is 1. An important set of efficient solutions--Lindahl outcomes--are characterized by contributions being proportional to agents' eigenvector centralities in the network. The outcomes we focus on are motivated by negotiations. We apply the results to identify who is essential for Pareto improvements, how to efficiently subdivide negotiations, and whom to optimally add to a team.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/701032
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25