Private Goods

Private goods is an economic term that refers to a specific type of goods, their key characteristics in contrast to public goods, are:

• Rivalrous consumption - consumption of the good by one consumer reduces the amount available to other consumers
• Excludable consumption - in terms of costs, it is reasonably possible to exclude any consumer from consumption

Private goods in practice: Differentiation on public and private goods is used to determine whether the type of goods can be effectively provided by the private sector, or whether public sector is preferable provider.