Why government provides services

Some goods and services are provided by the government e. Economically, what goods and services would be best provided by the public sector and which are best provided by the private sector? Economists distinguish broadly among three types of goods along the private to public continuum. Purely private goods are purchased and used by individuals and families. Another way of explaining a private good is to say that my use or consumption, in economist language excludes your ability to consume the same good.

Food is the best understood example. Food is eaten by one person. A family may purchase and cook for the family and their friends. People may share food with friends or with needy families through food banks, but only one person can eat a particular serving of food.

Because private goods are purchased and consumed, traditional supply and demand analysis describes the market for private goods very well. The intersection of private demand curves and production supply curves correctly predicts the appropriate market price and quantity. Public goods are at the opposite end of the continuum. Classic examples include national defense and the internet. You and I are equally protected by U. Comments will be sent to 'servicebc gov. Enter your email address if you would like a reply:.

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What is Economic Development? What is an Economic Development Plan? What is an Official Community Plan? What is the Role of Local Government? So the Durham County Council transitioned toward a digital approach to public services using a digital government services solution, called govService.

Now, over 90 processes and forms for government services can be accessed online and in one place, making it easy for citizens to make transactions of all kinds with their government. As a result, the number of citizen requests made online has increased. Officials in Milton Keynes, U. So they gave citizens an online, self-service destination to access information about public services. With digital forms made possible by govService, citizens can quickly and easily search, compare, save, and download details of community services.

Since launching their online service portal, fewer citizens are contacting city staff unnecessarily. The council has been working to deliver a better citizen experience for one of its most-popular services: waste and recycling bin collection.

After modernizing its approach — by integrating govDelivery , its cloud-based communications platform, with govService — more citizens are opting in to keep the county clean. After that, the customer receives relevant, timely, and automated information about their bin collections. This combination has improved sign-up rates and ensured Wrexham reaches more citizens. Today, residents get exceptional customer service, while county staff gets fewer phone calls from confused residents.

At Granicus, we empower governments to transform how they deliver public services through a new generation of tools, called govService.