Social Contract, Free Ride

This book offers a compelling new account of the public goods dilemma. Showing how the social contract, in its quest for fairness, actually helps to breed the parasitic "free riding" it is meant to suppress, De Jasay argues that the incentives created by the attempt to render public provisions assured and fair are a principal cause of the poor functioning of organized society. This study will be of great value to political and moral philosophers, political theorists, and economists.

Provides a novel account of the public goods dilemma. This book shows how the social contract, in its quest for fairness, actually helps to breed the parasitic 'free riding' it is meant to suppress. It also depicts how, in the absence of taxation, various public goods would be provided by spontaneous group co-operation.