Public Good Benefit Attribution

Abstract

This article reexamines the issue of how the benefits from public goods can be attributed to individual citizens, with emphasis on the McGuire and Aaron procedure and the critical responses that have arisen to this technique, and with the various alternatives being illustrated within a simple diagrammatic framework. The article indicates that, although several approaches can have something to offer within appropriate contexts, the nature of public provision tends to preclude the possibility of generating a universally applicable and appealing measure.