----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Eric, I think one should not confuse this use by Smith of the term "public good" with how it is now used by economists. Arguably it is the case that Smith was describing the kind of collective entity in public health that we would now describe as a public good. But that can also be debated. I think what Smith meant in this instance by that term was a moral judgment: that pubic health is something that is morally "good" and that it is so for many people and therefore is publicly so. The current usage is that "good" refers to a commodity or a service or something that is consumed by the public collectively, not its moral or judgmental character as with Smith in this particular passage. Barkley Rosser James Madison University ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]