ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the standard economic approach to public goods and two important extensions of it. It considers evidence that some global public goods (GPGs) are not amenable to network solutions. Candidate GPGs can be defined in more abstract terms, or by particular sub-goods making up a larger general good; so the groupings and level of detail in the taxonomy could vary depending on heuristic considerations. Hence the secure establishment of basic human rights is an institutional GPG, occasionally requiring intervention by other nations as a backstop in the most extreme cases. The chapter offers more evidence for several GPGs from further expert accounts and considers the limits of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guide. The SDG plan says too little about how the goals and their targets should be reached beyond suggesting more development aid.
