"But no country can achieve global public good on its own, and neither can
the global market place. Thus our efforts must now focus on the missing theme of
the equation: global public goods"

- Kofi Anran

Global public goods are those public goods that can't be provided by one country acting alone but only by the joint efforts of many nations. Like public goods, they also hve the properities of non-excludability and non-rivalry. Examples are health, peace, financial system, environmental sustainability. These cannot be confined to a single nation. These are the goods whose benefit reach beyond a nation, generation or population groups. Several global public goods have existed since ages such as oceans, seas, atomsphere, etc... Many others have developed as a result of globalisation and cross border influences.


Another new team which has recently emerged is the global public bads, which are also non-excludable, non-rivarous and their removal is desirable. Example, communicable diseases, drug smuggling.


We face problems in provision of global public goods because of the gap of externalities between different nations. Hence an efficient allocation of resources to global public goods on an international level is very diffcult to achieve. Many failures have also been due to the lack of political consensus to implement policies to ensure adequate provision of global public goods.


The need for collective action to devise mechanisms for providing global public goods has increased in the globalised world. With integration of market, financial crisis affects many countries simultaneously. Spread of HIV/AIDS or drug smuggling are issues which concern all nations.


Providing global public goods, according to a study "Providing Public Gooods - Managing Population" includes 2 processes: Policital Decision Making, whereby stakeholders decide what and how to produce and ths other is Production Involving Financing on allocation of resources efficiently to global public goods. To solve this market failure, international co-operation and incentive is required.


Sanchita Shandilya

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