Excludability

Excludability is the property of a good economics that potential users if necessary excluded from consumption, ie property rights can be enforced. Excludability is imperative if for a good price or a - before a national offer - one should be charged.

Lack of excludability could lead to market failure due to the free-rider problem. It occasionally happens that a (private ) Offer is without excludability, such as when revenue can be generated in secondary markets ( advertising on radio, donations ). In this case, non-excludability is not to be understood as a "gotcha ", but as intended feature of a good. Also for political reasons is often waived the excludability, for example, merit goods. We distinguish between economic, technological, institutional, normative reasons due to which others are excluded from consumption.

Also, from a welfare theoretical reasons, a higher degree could be achieved at Pareto efficiency by avoiding exclusion. Since public goods are characterized by a common, nichtrivalisierender consumption is possible, and the inclusion of other users marginal cost of zero, a higher level of utility could be achieved. Eliminating it through consumption exclusion would mean therefore to choose a state of lower Pareto efficiency.

Goods that are excludable are called private goods. If they are also exposed to a rivalry between the users in the consumer, there are private goods. Does not this rivalry principle, then one speaks of a public good, sometimes called Klubgut. To distinguish the goods of Exklusionsgrad used.