In economics, a privileged group is one possible condition for the production of public goods.
A privileged group contains at least one individual that benefits more from a public good than its production costs. Therefore, the good will be produced although other members of the group benefit without paying. However, this free rider problem may still result in an undersupply of the good compared to the Lindahl equilibrium.
Famous quotes containing the words privileged and/or group:
“The master minds of all nations, in all ages, have sprung in affluent multitude from the mass of the nation, and from the mass of the nation only—not from its privileged classes.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Now, honestly: if a large group of ... demonstrators blocked the entrances to St. Patrick’s Cathedral every Sunday for years, making it impossible for worshipers to get inside the church without someone escorting them through screaming crowds, wouldn’t some judge rule that those protesters could keep protesting, but behind police lines and out of the doorways?”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1953)