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» Free-riding is nothing to be proud of   2005-06-01 09:58 Clever Dick

Yes, but will the socially optimal level be provided by Govenrment?

That is not the question. The question is whether government will move us closer to that level than the market.

You don't even know what such an optimum is.

True, I cannot give you a precise number. I can, however, tell you that it is significantly higher than would be provided by the market.

With voluntary provision of public goods, people can donate towards defence on the basis of their market values.

True, but that fails to address the problem of free-riding leading to a sub-optimal level of donation.