2008-11-06: Rival and Non-Rival Goods

From Datafedwiki

Back to DataFed Development Events

Rival Good, A type of good that may only be possessed or consumed by a single user. Using a rival good prevents its use by other possible users. Rival goods can be durable, where users may use them one at a time, or nondurable, where consumption destroys the good, allowing only one user to enjoy it. Investopedia Says... Because these types of goods can only be used or occupied by one person, competition is created for their consumption. Consumers become rivals in an attempt to obtain these goods. For example, a skateboard represents a durable good because other consumers may use it after the current rider is finished. A nondurable good will perish after consumption, such as a cup of coffee. Only one consumer will drink the coffee, and after it is gone, there will be nothing left for another consumer to use.

Non-rival goods are the opposite of rival goods. These goods allow consumption or possession to multiple users. National parks, roads and the internet are examples of non-rival goods.

[edit] Other Links

---

Key Question: “What few things need to be the same so that everything else can be different?” - Michael Tiemann, CTO of Redhat

A CIO looking into migration from legacy to modern systems asked: What few tings ....Its a remarkable question ; of architecture, platform, and that technology is a supporting rather than a limiting factor. Applicable risk analysis, cash management

Boy does that go to the heart of the standardization/hub/network-effect problem in short order. While it is a good question from a public-good point of view, from a private-good/capitalist point of view the more likely question is “What things can be …”

Happiness - non rival good Harlan Cleveland's sharing transactions..

Happiness is not like ice cream. When I eat a spoonful of ice cream from the quart in the fridge I’m taking that spoonful away from the rest of my family. Happiness isn’t like that, if I’m a bit more happy it doesn’t follow that the rest of my family is denied some happiness.

Economists, who like most scientists would rather make up complex terms than steal ice cream from their children, have a term for that. Ice cream is a rival good, and happiness as a non-rival good. Men are very clever at converting non-rival goods into rival goods. I figure this is because they spent years locked sibling rivalry. “I’m taller than you.” “Oh, yeah, well I’m thinner.” “So, what’s so great about thin!”

Optimizing Commonalities and Differences What few things need to be the same so that everything else can be different? This question, poised by Michael Tiemann, CTO of Redhat, is at the heart of many of the decisions facing IT today. This question defines the power of web services as well as the move toward managed desktops in corporations. Finding the balance in this question is a critical decision facing technologists as they develop enterprise architectures and operating models so that IT can serve the business.