Theories of Collective Goods Reexamined

S EVERAL theories address the question of how individual members of a collectivity, acting in a self-interested manner, will contribute to the provision of a collective good. The prior question of what a collective good is has been answered in a variety of ways, with different theorists offering different definitions. It is our intention, in this work, to show how different definitions of collective goods lead to very different conclusions about the likelihood that self-interested individuals will contribute to the collective effort. We will then focus on the two major theories of Paul Samuelson and Mancur Olson. We will conclude with a discussion of the applicability of these theories to the study of international politics.