Abstract:

This contribution offers a fresh account of public goods, whose main characteristics have been explored in financial studies. The main argument is that public goods are favorable and useful items for the enhancement of democracy. The contribution starts with recalling the main characteristics of various groups of public goods. It then argues that political ethics offers a range of normative arguments for the provision of public goods. They include the value of public goods in terms of social justice, the support that public goods deliver in favor of connectivity of the citizenry, and as spaces for civil debate. Yet, each of the functions depends crucially on the support of public goods by political institutions and by democratic participation. The article ends with the role of public goods in shaping processes of transformation.