A good in economics is anything that increases utility. This contrasts with a bad that decreases utility. Another way of think of it is that a good is something that you want more of, and a bad is something that you want less of. For example, leisure is a good, but work is a bad from the standpoint of the worker, though the money that is paid for work is a good. A good is often thought of as only a physical product, such as in the accounting definition as an ("accounting good"). In economics, a good does not need to be a physical object. For example, a service such as getting a haircut would be a good as long as the recipient wanted it. The broader definition economists use is valuable in thinking of many of the decisions people make among a number available choices.
Private and public goods
One of the most common ways of looking at goods in economy, illustrated in the table below, is the classic division based on:
- is there a competition involved in obtaining a given good
- whether it is possible to exclude a person from consumption of a given good
Other good types
There are a number of different ways of looking at the concept of goods in economics including:
See also
