Polly UsmanPolitical Science Breakout Assignment 1 January 14, 14Dr. Haynes/TA Boike As a person who likes to go to the park and take a nice walk when overwhelmed with political science homework, after actually completing the homework I can’t help butwonder if I’m contributing to the free riding problem. Non-excludable goods, and in this case environmental public goods, such as public recreational park services, could be taken advantage of in the form of free riding. In the instance of a park, imagine several contributors on board for the production of a new public park. Public contributors would pay for this public park. Several of the contributors would pay for the space and production of the park at a fixed cost, however, some contributors may not pay at all, in the hopes that the other contributors will still pay the cost of the service. If enough contributors do not pay, the service cannot be put in service. One possible solution for this problem would be for all of the contributors to form an organization and agree to act according to a majority vote of their membership. This collective organization would tie responsibilities to the majority ruling. In the event a majority favors the public park, all members would be obliged to pay regardless of their own vote. Another more common approach to the park problem is one I’ve seen take place in my favorite park at home. TheSPLOST campaign is the one that keeps my favorite park, well, my favorite park. The campaign slogan for SPLOST is “your pennies for parks and greenspace” SPLOST stands for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. Instead of only a select few contributors paying for the building, maintenance, etc. of the park, the costs are bornecollectively and therefore no one can be excluded from their benefits. However, SPLOSTis an optional 1% sales tax, so a way to solve the free riding problem might be to make the tax mandatory. This would then increase funds for park use exponentially, and no one would be able to free ride since the tax would be required. The fact that our taxes solve the free riding issue puts my heart at ease when I take a stroll through it.Works CitedYour pennies at work SPLOST [Gwinnett County Government]. (2010). Retrieved fromSPLOST website:
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