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Divide comments on Individual vs. Group Epistemic Rationality - Less Wrong
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I reckon it is public good anyway, insofar as public libraries are public. In fact, you can most probably access many of those journals for free at your nearest public library, even if not necessarily by direct web access, but by requesting a copy from the librarian.
EDIT: Of course if you want convenience, you have to pay. (Perhaps) luckily enough people and institutions are willing to.
Right, so a "public" library is a good example of a good that is provided publicly, but has little economic justification as such. A "public" good is technically specific in economics, and refers to something more narrow than what is used in everyday language.
A book is excludable, even if somewhat nonrivalrous. It's rivalrous in the sense that it can't be checked out to multiple people at once, but nonrivalrous in the sense that a book in a library can be consumed by many more people than a book kept on a shelf in someone's private home, over an extended period of time.
A library could operate without positive external effects with a subscription model.