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This article defines a public good, arguing that higher education should be considered a public good. This requires moving away from an orthodox economistic understanding of public goods. It also requires understanding the relationship between higher education as both a private good and a public good to the extent that it promotes individual flourishing necessary to the public good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores quadruple helix ecosystems, cultural hubs, and living labs as models for transformative partnerships for higher education institutions (HEIs) as they move towards more open, co-operative, and co-creative research and innovation formats for public good. The transition of HEIs from mode 2 to mode 3 institutions prompts a cultural shift in HEIs that involves ongoing reimagination and reconfiguration. Here, the paper introduces and connects the quadruple helix ecosystem, living labs, and public good as a way for HEIs to revitalise themselves and their societal role. Following this, the model of cultural hubs is put forward as a way for partners to meet in the middle to co-create for, in, and with the world. Here, the Horizon Europe EPIC-WE research and innovation project serves as a guiding example with its specific emphasis on co-operative research-making, culture-making, and innovation-making between higher education institutions (HEI), creative industries (CI), cultural heritage institutions (CHI), and youth citizens (YC). Within EPIC-WE, cultural hubs are positioned as having the potential to act as cross-sector, transdisciplinary mediators that support the quadruple helix partners in moving towards transformative partnerships and empowered participation for public good(s) together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the arguments of the authors in terms of the challenge that diversity poses to polities. Appreciating the comparative, contextual and iterative method of the authors that entwines the normative and the empirical, this article suggests that the arguments of the book may be weakened by an overlooking of how diversity fares in the face of widening material inequalities and the workings of the neoliberal market. This article questions the use of the term “governance” of diversity and suggests that it inadvertently suggests a technocratic and managerial approach to diversity on account of the neoliberal underpinnings of the term. Finally, it welcomes the case for religion as public good that the authors make but suggests that this can only flourish with an accompaniment of public goods such as health, housing and education, publicly provisioned by the exchequer for all citizens and not subject to commoditization for individual consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UK higher education is highly internationalised. Two-thirds of science papers with UK authors involve international collaboration, one-quarter of higher education students are international, and their fees constitute more than a fifth of institutional income. What then are the contributions of higher education and research to the global public good? The study investigates this in relation to England within UK, drawing on interviews with 37 people who construct relational global space and carry out cross-border activities. Interviewees included leaders and faculty in three universities, policy makers/regulators, national higher education organisations, and academic experts on higher education. The findings are interpreted in terms of theorisations of global spatiality and global public good. The interviewees believed that English higher education made the world a better place, but this was clearer in research than in high-fee international education, where the imperative of revenue raising took priority with no provision for equity. Potentials for the shared global public good were limited by the often methodologically nationalist and Anglo-centric terms in which cross-border relations were understood. Many saw national good and global good as synonymous, suggesting they had not moved far from the Imperial mindset. Some referred to multiple perspectives on global public good, or mission tensions in international education, but none conceived the global public good separately from national interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Special Issue provides the first consolidated outcomes from a large cross-country research project, conducted by the UK-based Centre for Global Higher Education, on the contributions of higher education to public good outcomes. The public good outcomes of higher education are outcomes other than private pecuniary benefits like individual earnings, employment or social status: (a) shared collective social goods, such as the contributions of higher education to social tolerance, or democratic governance and (b) non-pecuniary individual goods such as the lifetime contribution of higher education to the subjectification (self-formation) of students and to their socialisation as citizens in relational settings. This non-pecuniary domain is underplayed or hidden in those economic policies in the Anglosphere that imagine social life in exclusively transactional terms and model students as consumers, universities as businesses and higher education systems as competitive markets, suggesting the need to move beyond the Anglosphere. The research studies reported here compare approaches to public good outcomes (or their nearest lexical equivalents) in Chile, China, Finland, France, Japan and Poland, as well as Canada and England. This introduction explains the project and presents the country studies, also acknowledging the limitations of the research. It concludes with a summary of the research outcomes across the eight countries, including similarities and differences, and a generic transpositional analysis that integrates the separate findings into a single overall picture of the contribution of higher education to the public good in the eight countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anglophone societies in which the sovereign individual is primary vis and vis social relations, and policy focuses on economic competition and consumption in education, find it hard to grasp non-pecuniary outcomes in higher education. These include the self-formation of students as persons and collective goods like knowledge, technological capability, social inclusion, political connectedness, tolerance and global understanding. While other cultures generate insights into non-pecuniary outcomes, the paper focuses critically on meanings of 'public' in English: (1) public as state, (2) public good as universal well-being, (3) public as inclusive-communicative as in 'public opinion', (4) public and private goods in economics. None of these meanings of 'public' enables the resolution of the non-pecuniary outcomes of higher education. The paper tackles four central questions. First, why is there an undue emphasis on the individual and individualised pecuniary benefits, vis a vis social relations, in Euro-American and especially Anglophone societies? Second, can these societies strengthen public or common goods by augmenting the state in higher education? Third, what other practices of public and common might advance non-pecuniary outcomes? Fourth, how to advance collective outcomes beyond the nation-state? The paper finds that while Anglophone public good is constrained by the state in capitalist society, higher education's role in the production and distribution of common good through primarily local networks, while also pressuring central states to provide support, offers a promising way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Anglophone jurisdictions, higher education policy is over-determined by economic policy and subjected to neoliberal regulation based on quasi-market competition between corporatised institutions, regulated by performative comparisons, tuition fees, and outputs imagined as commodities. England installed marketisation in successive policy changes between the Thatcher government's introduction of commercial fees for international students in 1979 and the full-fee market for domestic students, supported by subsidised income-contingent loans, in 2012. Policy commitment to public good outcomes (the collective and non-pecuniary individual benefits of higher education) was largely emptied out, leaving only attenuated proxies such as widening participation and research impact. Responsibility for public good outcomes was transferred from government to institutions. Following a discussion of Anglophone concepts of 'public' and an overview of key policy reports from 1963–2019, the paper reports on qualitative research into approaches to higher education and public good in England. There were 24 semi-structured interviews, with middle and senior manager-leaders in two universities and policy professionals. Nearly all advocated a broad public good role, in contrast to policy in England, and provided examples of public outcomes in higher education. However, these concepts lacked clarity, while at the same time the shaping effects of the market were sharply understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses understandings of higher education and the public good in the context of Finland. A lexical-based comparison of public goods terminology reveals that the Finnish translation of public good—julkishyödyke—is used in comparatively recent (post-1970s) scholarship, mainly limited to the fields of economics, forestry and agriculture. It is notably absent in discussions of higher education. Instead, universities' contribution to the public good is expressed as sivistys, service, social impact and national development. The second half of the paper discusses findings from a qualitative study of university staff and policymaker understandings of public good(s) (n = 21). Participants framed the contribution of universities to the public good as sivistys, service and social impact and also highlighted the dimension of social equality. These goods were viewed as applicable to local, national and global levels, flowing both out of and into Finland, thus benefiting everyone. As such, responses were closely aligned with the UNESCO (2015) definition of higher education as a global common good. Recent higher education policies that are based on the logic of higher education as a private good (education export, tuition fees for international students) threaten this model, revealing a conflict in the role of the state as protector of the public good at the national level and promoter of higher education as a private good at the global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that pro‐social leaders cooperate, on average, more than pro‐self leaders in social dilemmas. It can, thus, be beneficial for the group to have a pro‐social leader. In this paper we analyze the consequences of a leader informing followers that they are pro‐social (or pro‐self). In doing so, we compare a setting in which the leader's type is truthfully revealed to settings where the leader can 'hide' or 'lie' about their pro‐sociality. We find that a leader saying they are pro‐social boosts efficiency, even if the signal is not fully credible. Cooperation is highest in a truth setting with a pro‐social leader. We demonstrate that these results are consistent with a belief‐based model of social preference in which the stated type of the leader changes the frame of reference for followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many landscapes are on the edge literally, particularly here on the Atlantic Coast of Canada. But landscapes everywhere are on the edge metaphorically: on the edge of change. Tackling the collective challenges we face, and redefining a "good life" in these new circumstances, will likely transform the places and landscapes that we care about. Yet change is hard and it is felt unevenly across space and social strata. We often instinctively feel that the landscapes of the present should dominate the future—an idea I've been calling "climax thinking"—but in many cases, those current landscape settings solve old problems and cause new ones. Drawing on recent empirical Atlantic research about renewable energy and coastal adaptation, this lecture explores some of the cultural shifts required to reimagine our landscapes and to meet the challenges ahead, identifying key roles for geographers along the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on arguments about the need for greater individual freedom, school choice was introduced in Sweden in the 1990s. Swedish municipalities now set up local school choice systems, whose organization varies between municipalities. This study is based on interviews with three politicians and two civil servants from two average-sized municipalities with different school choice system designs and different political majorities. The aim of this study is to analyze how representatives of Swedish municipalities conceptualize their role and responsibility in relation to the role of parents in school choice systems, with a focus on school choice from pre-school to first grade. The analysis is focused on those instances in which parents fail to act as the design intended in the school choice system. The analysis shows that parents trouble the local school choice systems by both being passive and active when they are encouraged to make a choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify and describe potential societal and individual sources of support for orphan drug programs. The Generalized Risk-Adjusted Cost-Effectiveness method shows that acute illness and disability severity increase individuals' willingness to pay for health gains. We develop a social welfare function (SWF) that incorporates individuals' own values, combined with politically or ethically determined weights. We introduce the concept of horizontal equity—that individuals in similar situations should be treated similarly—into the SWF. Finally, we introduce anonymous altruism into individuals' utility functions—the desire to help others, without knowing their identity. Combined with the empirical link between disease severity and rarity, the Generalized Risk-Adjusted Cost-Effectiveness method demonstrates heightened willingness to pay for health gains for people with rare diseases, leading rational individuals to support orphan drug programs, our first pillar of support. Adding horizontal equity to the SWF further increases societal support for orphan drug programs. Anonymous altruism, focusing most strongly on those in the most-dire circumstances, leads to altruistic support for those with severe disorders. Because innovators' economic incentives lead them to focus on larger markets, anonymous altruistic individuals will increasingly prefer public investments into rare diseases over time, as private markets systematically produce gains for common diseases. We identified 3 supporting pillars for orphan drug programs: (1) individuals' propensity to prefer treatments for severe diseases; (2) the preference for horizontal equity in our social welfare; (3) anonymous altruism, the desire to help strangers, coupled with market incentives that underserve strangers with rare diseases. • Most nations with developed economies have followed the 1983 US Orphan Drug Act by providing numerous benefits to incentivize innovation for drugs for low-prevalence (rare) diseases. These programs all focus on low disease prevalence and additionally introduce disease severity in various ways. The logic for such programs is not clearly developed, as evidenced by the high diversity among specific existing programs. • Three distinct supports for orphan drug programs are identified. One relies on proper valuation of medical interventions using the Generalized Risk-Adjusted Cost-Effectiveness methodology, wherein individuals hold greater value for health gains for higher-severity disorders. The second pillar shows how proper social welfare functions incorporate this valuation, combined with the almost-universal support for horizonal equity. The third analyzes the consequences and limitations of anonymous altruism as a basis for support of orphan drug programs. • Clarity about the fundamental values associated with orphan drug programs can help focus them better through future regulatory and legislative modifications. The Generalized Risk-Adjusted Cost-Effectiveness model provides a valid and theoretically based approach for introducing disability and acute illness severity into social welfare functions, which provide proper ways to measure the effects of policy choices. Our analysis also shows the limitations of private altruism and the need for orphan drug programs to fulfill altruistic preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In this work, we look at the role played by cultural values on individuals' tax preferences towards contributing to public goods. More specifically, looking at the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Former Soviet Union (FSU), we analyse the role of specific cultural values in the willingness of an individual to pay more taxes with the aim of improving public good provision relating to education, health and support of people in need, as well as to combat climate change. To this purpose, we integrate Hofstede's cultural dichotomy individualism–collectivism with Schwartz's cultural dichotomy embeddedness–autonomy, as both capture similar values regarding group interest and self‐determination. We posit that individual values aligned with the concept of individualism/autonomy will be associated with a greater willingness to contribute towards public good provision. Our analysis exploits data from the third wave of the Life in transition Survey (2015–2016). Our analyses reveal that respondents' willingness to contribute to different types of public and common goods is positively associated with them holding values compatible with individualism/autonomy. These associations are statistically significant and robust to changes in specifications and estimators and to changes in the sample investigated.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political, social, environmental, and health challenges have questioned the relevance and sustainability of international student mobility (ISM). Strong critiques towards ISM stem from current global challenges but are also rightfully prevalent among scholars of internationalization. In response to the sustained critique of ISM, this article makes the case that—despite its limitations—ISM can contribute towards important public good outcomes and serve broader institutional and higher education sector aims. Public good is operationalized as referring to markers of democratization—trust in others and political participation—and markers of human development—self-reported competency levels and happiness. Data from eight European countries collected through the Eurograduate 2018 pilot survey is used to test the association between study abroad and democratization and human development markers. By doing so, the paper aims to understand if ISM can help address some of the democratization and human development challenges faced at national, regional, and global levels. The paper also observes how these outcomes vary between international, migrant, and domestic graduates. In this article, the juxtaposition of migrant graduates—an under-researched group in internationalization studies—with international graduates highlights how migrant students and graduates can be better supported. Results offer a complex picture of inequality between international, migrant, and domestic graduates. Findings also show that studying abroad is positively associated with trust in others, political participation, higher self-reported competency levels, and happiness, underlining the public good value of ISM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of market mechanisms into higher education (HE) systems has profoundly reshaped the sector. One prominent aspect of such reforms has been the conceptualisation of the student as a consumer, ostensibly empowered by choice and seeking value for money from their tuition fees. In this article, we report the findings of an empirical study of student representations when HE becomes ‘free’, after four decades of marketisation. The analysis was conducted in Chile, where the HE sector has undergone a controversial reform that removed tuition fees for low and middle income undergraduate students known as Gratuidad. Considering the importance of the student-consumer subjectivity invoked by proponents of marketisation, how are HE students discursively constructed in a context of fee removal? Based on a discourse analysis of news media, we present three representations of undergraduate students during public discussion of Gratuidad that were common in their negative portrayal: students as (1) egocentric, (2) victims of discrimination, and (3) marionettes. Our work thus indicates that in a culture of marketisation, policy efforts designed to democratise can be overshadowed by strong media discourses opposing government efforts to publicly fund HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWith rising urban inequalities worldwide, inclusionary planning instruments can contribute to more just and inclusive cities and societies by making housing accessible to various social groups. Although these instruments have existed for several decades, their implementation has not always been successful. There is a limited understanding of how these instruments contribute to the public good and the reasons for their failure. By examining the implementation of two inclusionary instruments known as the Balanced Housing Ratio 1:2:3 and the ‘Socialization’ Process used to regulate the construction of new housing by the private sector in Jakarta and Yogyakarta (Indonesia), this article provides evidence to better understand the reasons for their failure and gives entry points for policymakers to be able to design and implement inclusive planning instruments that have stronger impact. The research uses qualitative methods for data collection, including semi-structured interviews as the principal method, complemented by observations, a policy review and a workshop for background and contextual information. This in-depth analysis of the challenges to implement inclusionary instruments related to housing development in Indonesia shows that their failure leads to further social and spatial inequality in cities and a shortcoming of the planning system to contribute to the public good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of higher education's growing significance and the persistence of inequalities in it, the article aims to further develop the understanding of higher education as a public good and to explore its association with social cohesion in a European comparative perspective. It shifts the focus from the content of higher education as a driver of its social contributions towards the role of higher education realisation in a given society as determining its social effects. Two new methodological instruments are developed: an index of higher education as a public good and an index of social cohesion. The analysis draws on data from Eurostat, the EUROSTUDENT Survey VII, and the European Social Survey, Round 10. The results indicate substantial cross-country differences in social cohesion and in the realisation of higher education as a public good. The article identifies a positive association between the realisation of higher education as a public good in a given country and the level of social cohesion there. From the four dimensions of higher education as a public good related to access, participation, completion, and the state's commitment to its development, the strongest relationship is between the state's commitment to its development and social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the impact of framing on leading‐by‐example. Our 2 × 2 design consists of group level frames (Wall Street vs. Community) and individual level frames (First/Second Movers vs. Leader/Followers). We report on two studies where we elicit participants' beliefs allowing us to evaluate whether framing effects are driven by beliefs or preferences. Across both studies, average contributions are significantly lower in the Community—First Mover frame. This is primarily because leaders contribute less, pulling down followers' contributions. We find that contributions are strongly related to first order and second order beliefs but framing effects remain once we control for beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Locke was a social contract theorist. He envisaged that individuals had domiciled in a state of nature, enjoying natural rights. But because of the insecurities of the natural state, individuals transitioned to the stability of civil society, guaranteed by a sovereign. There were fetters on the sovereign, however, such as passing laws for the public good. Is modern legislation to counter terrorism for the public good? Locke also expressly granted a right of resistance on the people. But is this right terrorism? Reflecting on these principles, this study examines counter-terror statutes and determines whether Locke would support them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a futuristic approach to partnerships through the lens of a university-affiliated organization, focusing on how strategic collaborations can address evolving global challenges. By examining current practices and envisioning future dynamics, the paper provides insights into the role of partnerships in fostering sustainable development, particularly in education, agriculture, and governance. Drawing inspiration from systems learning and the cultural concept of reciprocity, the paper underscores the importance of mutual respect, trust, and collaboration in creating impactful, non-domination partnerships. It highlights the contributions of Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO) by showcasing its innovative use of video animations and multilingual content to enhance knowledge dissemination and empower communities worldwide. The discussion integrates futuristic elements including artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms, emphasizing their potential to change partnerships by bridging digital divides and fostering inclusive knowledge-sharing. The conclusion offers recommendations for transformative approaches that prioritize sustainability in building partnerships for a more equitable future.

Beginning in 2012, several states enacted right-to-work laws, which hamper the ability of labor unions to collect agency fees to finance union services and activities. Because the processes by which these adoptions took place are arguably exogenous, identification of the causal effect of right-to-work on unionization within a state becomes possible. The author uses a set of semi-independent cross-sections drawn from the Current Population Survey for years 2000 to 2018 to investigate the impact of right-to-work on the probability of unionization in the five states that adopted it after 2011. The empirical analysis reveals an economically meaningful and statistically significant adverse effect from right-to-work adoption on union density that is distinct from other factors influencing unionization during that time period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering continuing environmental degradation linked to economic activity, it seems essential to examine the role companies can play in implementing sustainable development. This study aims to analyze lessons learned from standard theories on the effectiveness of corporate social and environmental responsibility. Indeed, corporate social responsibility and state intervention are frequently compared under the dual lens of collective well-being and environmental quality. For some economists, corporate social responsibility is preferable to state intervention from the point of view of maximizing collective well-being. By contrast, according to some other authors, state intervention is more effective for both maximizing well-being and protecting the environment. This literature review shows that corporate social responsibility is theoretically no more effective than public intervention in environmental protection: companies can be encouraged to commit themselves to protecting the environment under restrictive conditions, but this does not eliminate the essential importance of public intervention. Analysis of the assumptions of neoclassical models shows that, in reality, they do not take into account all the properties of a public good, i.e., all the properties of the climate and the environment. Finally, the conditions for implementing CSR are incompatible with maximizing collective well-being, which explains why public intervention is theoretically preferable to CSR.

Abstract Intergroup aggression often results in the production of public goods, such as a safe and stable social environment and a home range containing the resources required to survive and reproduce. We investigate temporal variation in intergroup aggression in a growing population of colobus monkeys (Colobus vellerosus) to ask a novel question: “Who stepped-up to produce these public goods when doing so became more difficult?”. Both whole-group encounters and male incursions occurred more frequently as the population grew. Males and females were both more likely to participate in whole-group encounters when monopolizable food resources were available, indicating both sexes engaged in food defence. However, only females increasingly did so as the population grew, suggesting that it was females who increasingly produced the public good of home range defence as intergroup competition intensified. Females were also more active in male incursions at high population densities, suggesting they increasingly produced the public good of a safe and stable social environment. This is not to say that males were chronic free-riders when it came to maintaining public goods. Males consistently participated in the majority of intergroup interactions throughout the study period, indicating they may have lacked the capacity to invest more time and effort.

Extracellular proteases are a class of public good that support growth of Bacillus subtilis when nutrients are in a polymeric form. Bacillus subtilis biofilm matrix molecules are another class of public good that are needed for biofilm formation and are prone to exploitation. In this study, we investigated the role of extracellular proteases in B. subtilis biofilm formation and explored interactions between different public good producer strains across various conditions. We confirmed that extracellular proteases support biofilm formation even when glutamic acid provides a freely available nitrogen source. Removal of AprE from the NCIB 3610 secretome adversely affects colony biofilm architecture, while sole induction of WprA activity into an otherwise extracellular protease‐free strain is sufficient to promote wrinkle development within the colony biofilm. We found that changing the nutrient source used to support growth affected B. subtilis biofilm structure, hydrophobicity and architecture. We propose that the different phenotypes observed may be due to increased protease dependency for growth when a polymorphic protein presents the sole nitrogen source. We however cannot exclude that the phenotypic changes are due to alternative matrix molecules being made. Co‐culture of biofilm matrix and extracellular protease mutants can rescue biofilm structure, yet reliance on extracellular proteases for growth influences population coexistence dynamics. Our findings highlight the intricate interplay between these two classes of public goods, providing insights into microbial social dynamics during biofilm formation across different ecological niches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society uses the following mechanism to decide on the supply of an experience good. Each agent can choose whether or not to contribute to the good. Contributions are collected, and the good is supplied whenever total contributions exceed a threshold. We study the case where the good is excludable, agents have a common value, and each agent receives a private signal about the common value. We study how such collective decisions perform in terms of information aggregation, social efficiency, and market traction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to nurture reflections on the colonization of the future in the present with a particular focus on Africa. This paper aims at exploring how participatory research and particularly anticipatory action research can contribute to a decolonising process. Design/methodology/approach: Considering the future as a public good, this paper develops a reflection on the colonization processes that can turn it into a club or a private good. This paper mobilizes the notions of participatory knowledge production and local action research as a way to decolonize the future and empower imagination. This paper revisits the tenets of participatory action research as a means to achieve this objective and discusses the main features of a non-colonial anticipatory action research in the context of African futures. Findings: This paper highlights the challenges associated with connecting anticipatory endeavours focusing on action research, the creation of collective intelligence and co-design, with the intention of encouraging the decolonisation process. It includes design principles and anticipates a possible process of counter-decolonization. Research limitations/implications: This is a conceptual paper, which does not provide field-tested evidence. Yet, the authors hope it serves as an input enabling to design methodologies that will prevent the colonisation of the future when engaging in future-oriented research activities in Africa and elsewhere. Originality/value: This paper provides an integral approach to the colonisation of the future, as a renewed old question. This paper also connects this process with a reflection on the nature of what could be non-colonizing anticipatory action research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Anglophone neoliberal jurisdictions, policy highlights the private goods associated with higher education but largely neglects the sector's contributions to public good not measurable as economic values, including non-pecuniary individual benefits and collective social outcomes. Governments are silent on the existence and funding of most public goods. The paper reports on understandings of the public good role of higher education in England after nearly a decade of full marketisation. The study, part of a cross-national comparison of 11 countries, consisted of a review of major policy reports, and 24 semi-structured interviews in universities (13) and among higher education policy professionals (11) including regulators, national organisations and experts. England has no policy language for talking about outcomes of higher education other than attenuated performative outputs such as graduate salaries, research impact, knowledge exchange and widening participation, understood as individual access to education as a private good. Awareness of multiple public goods has been suppressed to justify successive fee increases and the imposition of a market in the centralised English system. This has coincided with a shift from direct government funding and collaborative stewardship by state and institutions, to student funding and top-down regulation. Nevertheless, most interviewees, including regulators, advocated an open-ended public good role and provided many examples of public goods in higher education, though the concepts lacked clarity. The policy notion of a zero-sum relation of private and public outcomes, corresponding to the split of private/public costs, was rejected in favour of a positive-sum relation of private and public outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personal data increasingly serve as inputs to public goods. Like other types of contributions to public goods, personal data are likely to be underprovided. We investigate whether classical remedies to underprovision are also applicable to personal data and whether the privacy-sensitive nature of personal data must be additionally accounted for. In a randomized field experiment on a public online education platform, we prompt users to complete their profiles with personal information. Compared to a control message, we find that making public benefits salient increases the number of personal data contributions significantly. This effect is even stronger when additionally emphasizing privacy protection, especially for sensitive information. Our results further suggest that emphasis on both public benefits and privacy protection attracts personal data from a more diverse set of contributors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers an initial overview of different ideas about the value of Official Statistics systems. For the purposes of this paper, an Official Statistics 'system' is taken to cover the set of organisations (within a country) that are involved in the production, communication, use and governance of Official Statistics. The paper seeks to analyse the stated ambitions for, or the claims about, these systems that are contained within a sample of formal corporate documents mainly produced by different national statistical organisations. These sources offer a range of diverse ideas about different types of value that societies may secure from having well-functioning Official Statistics systems. There are some foundational ideas of value that are often referenced – including the ambition that good Official Statistics will enable good (or better) decision-making by governments and others, which in turn will generate positive outcomes for society. The analysis also flags a range of ambitions for wider outcomes that might be secured by well-functioning Official Statistics systems – for example, outcomes for citizens (enabling them to be better informed, represented and empowered), outcomes for governments (contributing to a better more effective governmental process) or outcomes in terms of having better informed public debate. Collectively these concepts could inform any wider framework developed to communicate the potential value of Official Statistics systems, complementing the more specific expressions of value that might emerge directly from the views and judgements of users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Official statistics are widely considered to be public goods, however this paper explores a higher aspiration: that they also serve the public good. To achieve this goal, and provide value to societies worldwide, there is a need for discussion around what it truly means for statistics to serve the public good. This paper shares initial perspectives on the matter from the United Kingdom Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) before demonstrating how serving the public good fits with customer-centric perspectives on value, and calling for interested parties to join this discussion so that we may work together in service of statistics for a global good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report experimental findings on the role of charitable promises in settings with posted offers. We vary the enforceability of such promises within variants of ultimatum games where the proposer suggests a split between herself, the responder and a charitable donation. By reneging on initial pledges, dishonest proposers can change the final allocation to their advantage. Providing ex post information on actual donations while leaving the contract incomplete outperforms a complete contract where proposers cannot renege on their charitable promises. The ex post information allows proposers to improve their image by voluntarily giving more than pledged and thus proving that the charitable pledge was not used for strategic reasons. We identify proposer competition as another (surprising) mechanism that partly eliminates cheating among accepted offers, but it also favors offers without charitable pledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article draws on findings from a qualitative study of academics' role in higher education's contribution to the public good based on 15 interviews with academics from two universities in South Africa. I argue that if higher education in South Africa is to transform for the public good, the transformation of the university academic staff needs to be taken seriously and move beyond diversity of race and gender. The findings of the study that underpins this article suggest that the attributes of academics must be considered in initiatives that seek to transform the academy. This has implications for meaningful transformation because diversity, in terms of race and gender, does not necessarily translate to transformation in practice. Based on these findings, I suggest what these attributes may be through the concept of "public good academics," which the academics I interviewed associated with being progressive, reflexive, critically conscious, and socially competent. I conclude that public good academics are aptly positioned to engage in transformational practices. Therefore, the personal attributes of academics do matter and should not be ignored in our thinking and conversations about transformational practices in higher education, especially in South Africa—a country with a history of colonialism and apartheid that has shaped the higher education landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article adopts an institutionalist perspective in order to address the energy transition process and to consider, in particular, the alternative financing mechanisms that would be able to support a structural transformation that is sustainable in the long term. It argues that such a transformation can be regarded in a holistic and broader way as an eco-transition process that involves the whole society and economy and requires a societal public organization. A relevant holistic approach to eco-transition should focus on the institutional conditions that are required for a new sustainable and structural change framework. In this aim, the article points to the features of the transition process that display the characteristics of a public good. The durable provision of such a good calls for the transformation of the financing schemes in force to support green investments beyond the usual opposition between market-friendly and government-guided economic policies. A relevant avenue is to organize the financing of the eco-transition under the supervision of public institutions even though the contribution of private bodies might be valuable according to the rules of long-term non-speculative financial support of markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We experimentally test a model of public good bargaining due to Bowen et al. (Am Econ Rev 104:2941–2974, 2014) and compare two institutions governing bargaining over public good allocations. The setup involves two parties negotiating the distribution of a fixed endowment between a public good and each party’s individual account. Parties attach either high or low weight to the public good and the difference in these weights reflects the degree of polarization. Under discretionary bargaining rules, the status quo default allocation to the group account (in the event of disagreement) is zero while under the mandatory bargaining rule it is equal to the level last agreed upon. The mandatory rule thus creates a dynamic relationship between current decisions and future payoffs, and our experiment tests the theoretical prediction that the efficient level of public good is provided under the mandatory rule while the level of public good funding is at a sub-optimal level under the discretionary rule. Consistent with the theory, we find that proposers (particularly those attaching high weight to the public good) propose significantly greater allocations to the public good under mandatory rules than under discretionary rules and this result is strengthened with an increase in polarization. Still, public good allocations under mandatory rules fall short of steady state predictions, primarily due to fairness concerns that prevent proposers from exercising full proposer power.

In 1948, Article 27(1) UDHR declared the right 'to share in scientific advancement and its benefits'. Since 1966, the right has also been guaranteed by Article 15(1)(b) ICESCR as the right to 'enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications'. This equivocation on the right's name reveals a disagreement about the object of that right, i.e. (actively) participating in the scientific practice or (passively) 'enjoying its fruits' only. While the importance of participation in science has recently been emphasised, no justifications thereof have yet been provided. Drawing on considerations in human rights theory, the present article proposes an interpretation of Article 15(1)(b) ICESCR qua 'right to participate in scientific practice and enjoy its benefits'. It starts with an account of the genesis of the right. Second, it argues that science is best approached as a 'participatory good', both from the perspective of the philosophy of science and of other rights guaranteed by the ICESCR. Third, the article spells out the participatory dimensions of the human right to participate in science including its 'collective' dimensions. Finally, the article explores three institutional implications of the proposed participatory interpretation of the right, both domestically and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]