In the fourth assignment, you are asked to identify a good that you have used in the past month that is either a public good, common resource or artificially scarce

We consider the product to be safe drinking water and now we discuss the various aspects related to it as asked in the question.

First of all, safe drinking water is the example of a common resource. Common resource is defined as any scarce resource that provides the users with tangible benefits but nobody in particular owns or exclusively claims it. Now considering as to how safe drinking water is made to fall into this catagory is explained as:

As water is a resource which seems to be in abundance but the proportion of which which is safe and available for drinking purposes is scarce. Further there is no particular owner of this resource even the handler or manager may include a group of players both public and private. In addition to it, this cannot be placed be placed under the catagory of public goods as it does not fulfill the two necessary conditions of public goods i.e. non excludability and non rivalory in consumption.

The second part of the question deals with as to whether the product is excludable or non excludable and rival or non rival in conmsumption. So safe drinking water is an excludable and rival in consumption. This can be explained as below:

Excludability is defined as the degree to which a good, service or resource can be limited only to the paying customers and the managing body can prevent its free consumption.

Rivalory is defined as the condition in which when the consumption by one consumer prevents the simultaneous consumption by the other consumers or if the consumption by one party reduces the ability of another party to consume it.

Now considering that water is a scarce resource and we cannot access the safe drinking water without the supply being made available by the managing authority and so without the possible payments in the form of water bills the acceess is denied so we consider safe drinking water to be an excludable resource of consumption. In addition to this, when the portion of water is consumed by one consumer, it is not available for consumption by the other consumers which satisfies the second aspect of it being rival in consumption.

In the next aspect of the question we have to discuss about the handling or the managing body of the product in consideration. In this case safe drinking water is under the management of both the public and the private players collaboration. Since 1990s the introduction of private players in the business has given way to public private collaboration in the sector. The public sector involves the ministry of jal shakti , drinking water and sanitation is the representing body while to name the private players some are: Suez, Vivendi, Thames water and Bahtel.

In the last part of the question we have to discuss as whether this product faces the free rider problem. So the explanation is given below:

Free rider is the condition where people can benefit from a good or a service without paying or contributing anything towards it. It is a common in public goods which fulfill the two conditions of non excludability and rivalory in consumption.

But this is a quite possible condition in safe drinking water as well which is quite existent in the rural areas of the country where people are dependent on open water resources which are not included or placed under the scales of payments. They utilize this water for various purposes including even drinking. So under all this, without making any payments or contributions to the use of the product. This gives rise to the free rider problem to the use of safe drinking water.