The cost of streetlighting

Ask any student to give an example of a public good and the default answer seems to be “streelighting” - I will pass on whether streetlighting for urban roads and motorways meets precisely all of the defining characteristics of a public good (it surely comes close!) - but this BBC online magazine article provides an interesting follow up question for students - how much does it cost to provide such services on a daily basis. Perhaps a good example to use when discussing the costs and benefits of providing public goods?

Unit 2 Macro: The Importance of Productivity [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Measuring Inflation in the UK [20 May 2012]
Q&A: What do we need to know about output gaps? [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Output Gap [20 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Price Elasticity of Supply [13 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Public Bads [12 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision Notes on Supply-side Policies [10 May 2012]
Made in China - but not quite so cheaply…... [7 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Climate Change Policies - Finding the Right Mix [30 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Using the Cost-Benefit Principle [30 Apr 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: The Euro Zone Crisis (Revision) [22 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Quiz on Business Costs and Profits [11 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Contestable Markets [8 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Monopoly Price and Output [6 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Monopoly and Economic Welfare [6 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Scale Economies and MES [5 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Price Elasticity of Supply [5 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Producer Subsidies [2 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Scale Economies, Technology and Prices [1 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Nottingham introduces workplace parking tax [1 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Fixed and Variable Costs [31 Mar 2012]
Price of Stamp increases to 60p [27 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Breaking Down the Cost of Gas [4 Mar 2012]
The Economics of Climate Change - Stern 5 Years On [21 Feb 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Inflation [26 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Competitive Advantage in Trade (Some Videos) [12 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Video Clips on Negative Production Externalities [29 Dec 2011]
Economics of Deforestation [20 Dec 2011]
Keeping it local [24 Nov 2011]
AS Macro: The State of British Business [13 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Unilever hit by rising costs [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Costs and Benefits of a Super Sewer for London [1 Nov 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Is the Sun Dipping on Solar Subsidies? [27 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Ofcom gives stamp of approval for flexible pricing in mail [21 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Tesco Behaving Badly - Price Anchoring [17 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Unit Labour Costs and Inflation [12 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Market Supply [26 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Greek Economy at Default’s Door [25 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Bangladesh and Comparative Advantage in Textiles [19 Sep 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Fixed and Variable Costs [18 Sep 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Short Run Costs of Production [6 Sep 2011]
NHS spending good, private provision bad? [5 Sep 2011]
Starter Activity: Health Economics [1 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Cotton Prices and the Retail Price of Clothing [13 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Economics of Volatile Corn Prices [12 Jul 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Dangers of High Inflation [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopsony - Dairy Losses Drive Farmers from the Fields [10 Jul 2011]
Where there’s muck there’s brass [6 Jul 2011]
AQA Macro: Remember to revise inflation [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Cost Push Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Inflation [24 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Monopsony Power in Markets [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: The Importance of Profit [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: High and Low Marginal Cost Products [19 May 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Perfect Competition [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Outsourcing [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Business Growth [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Innovation Efficiency and Welfare [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Moving Away from Profit Max [18 May 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Diseconomies of Scale [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Minimum Efficient Scale [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: External Economies of Scale [18 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Economies of Scope [18 May 2011]
Interest Rates Held at 0.5% once again [5 May 2011]
A2 Micro: EU Aviation - State Aid and State Ownership [28 Apr 2011]
Wiki Revision: A to Z on Monopoly [23 Apr 2011]
A2 Micro: Changes in Costs and Profits [23 Apr 2011]
Key AS Micro Terms: Taxes and Subsidies [18 Apr 2011]
Key AS Micro Terms: Costs and Profits [16 Apr 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Information Failure [15 Apr 2011]
China set to become exporter of inflation [14 Apr 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Solar Panels and Economies of Scale [11 Apr 2011]
AS Micro: Prices for New and Second Hand Cars [9 Apr 2011]
UK Minimum Wage rises by 2.5% in October 2011 [8 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Aggregate Supply Shock [6 Apr 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Inflationary Pressure [5 Apr 2011]
OCR F585 June 2011: Competitiveness [31 Mar 2011]
Progress towards low carbon economic growth [18 Mar 2011]
EU Economics: Germany leads Euro Zone revival [25 Feb 2011]
Intense focus on cutting emissions is dumb argues Lomborg [16 Feb 2011]
Combining monetary and fiscal policy to curb inflation in China [16 Feb 2011]
Economics Q&A: What factors help to explain rising food prices? [14 Feb 2011]
Economics solar power government subsidies [8 Feb 2011]
The 25 Countries Whose Governments Could Get Crushed By Food Price Inflation [5 Feb 2011]
EU Economics: Hopes for a low carbon future in Europe [3 Feb 2011]
Changes in Real Prices [24 Jan 2011]
The Externalities of Plastic [24 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: Tragedy of the Commons and Market Failure [18 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: How might rising food prices affect food retailers and manufacturers in the UK? [16 Jan 2011]
Environmental Economics: Five Fresh Links [13 Jan 2011]
Economics Q&A: What economic factors affect the demand for new cars? [9 Jan 2011]
Revision: Consequences of Unemployment [1 Jan 2011]
Growth and Strategy at Domino’s Pizza [27 Nov 2010]
Economics at the Movies - Our Daily Bread [28 Oct 2010]
Departing from pure profit maximisation [14 Oct 2010]
The Social Cost of Dementia [21 Sep 2010]
Drug rationing - the role of NICE [4 Aug 2010]
Cocoa Economics [30 Jul 2010]
A Lewis Turning Point? Wages in China [8 Jun 2010]

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