Common goods existence value versus use value and their sustainability

The paper introduces a new notion of common goods in the area of environmental and cultural goods, as goods with a predominant existence value that may exists per se even for persons who do not use the good, so that the existence value overrides and limits the use value. To analyze the issue four cases are examined. The first is that of common goods for whom the utility obtained on the market covers the running costs of assuring the survival of their existence in a normal average way and duration plus a surplus that is gradually reduced to zero, as the duration and quality of preservation increases while if an increase duration is desired the use should be reduced to a level that implies a net economic loss until the top level of survival is reached with the maximum costs. For the goods of this class in principle the private property may be adopted with a constraint as for the limits to the use and a duty of preservation. However, if an increased duration is desired grants and tax credits or public property may be required. But there is a second class of goods for which a use value consistent with a normal survival exists but never covers the running costs. Here grants and fiscal exemptions and tax credits can provide only a market economy minimum solution. A third class of goods does exist whose normal existence value seems inconsistent with their fruition. Therefore the public hand must take care of them. Finally there are cultural goods whose existence value cannot be preserved even with zero fruition. In a well-functioning system cultural goods that have an existence value independently from their fruition are a population that increases though time, because new art and culture goods are created while the possibility of survival of the existing heritage goods continuously increases due the technological progress. The increase of their number and survival may also be due to the increased interest in them. More over older goods may need increased expenditures to survive. A dramatic problem of sustainability of these goods may arises similar to that in the sector of health public services for a population whose increased average age requires an increased per capita expenditure while the technological progress opens new possibilities of survival.