Voluntary provision of public goods in the contribution of peacock and new technologies

The paper highlights some fundamental issues of the development of the theoretical economic analysis addressing the dynamics of voluntary cooperation for the provision of public goods, building on the early investigation by Alan Peacock. The study will also investigate this topic in connection with, temporally close, contributions of the literature including the seminal papers by Ronald Coase and James Buchanan, respectively, on the impact of externalities and transactions costs on private decisions and market solutions, and on the optimal range and dimension of public good provision. The goal of our study is to draw attention to common aspects of the early literature investigating the provision of public goods and the contribution of the latter to successive theoretical analysis. Our study will also focus on the fundamental impact that development of new technologies has had in shaping demand and supply. This examination will be carried on in a critical way taking into account the indications of both early and more recent contributions. Regarding the latter issue, examples of different types of public goods will be provided, with special attention devoted to the cultural sector, in order to investigate whether and how new technologies affect the efficiency and the effectiveness of the related public goods provision  and whether substitution  or complementarity effects occur.  Moreover, the implementation and exploitation of technological advancements will be investigated also in view of the role of different actors (public, private) at different levels of government. On these grounds, the paper will finally offer some policy implications and suggestions.