Are Art Museums a Public Good?
When you approach a museum, even from the outside you begin to enter a realm of possibilities. Most art museums enrich the senses, breech the outer thickness beneath your hard skull and start your mind on a journey that an educated society feels can only better your life experience. But is it a public good? A museum may be a public good in terms that it provides a service that enriches those that come to it, but in economic terms and by definition of our textbook, Survey of Economics by Irvin B Tucker, all museums are not a public good. A public good, as defined by the Tucker textbook, has two qualities. One, it can not bar anyone access to that good or service and two, more than one user can use it at a time. An example of a public good, are the traffic lights that we speed under every day on our way to work or school. Everyone can use them and they will not diminish in their ability to serve the public. Although we pay taxes to pay for the light to work, people who cannot afford to pay are not blocked from using th
However, these museums could be considered a near public good because while the art may be jointly watched or consumed, people who do not pay for that right are usually excluded (unless they use their current DeVry University student ID). Museums who charge a fee without a low-income clause hold one characteristic that turns them into a private good in that the use of their museum and art within are for the exclusive use of the people who can afford to purchase a ticket or hold connections that allow then a free pass. Unfortunately, because these museums do not have a clause in their admissions price list that states that those who can not afford the fee may still come in, they are cut out of the characteristics of providing a public good even though they are allowed to claim so on their 990 forms. And what an adventure it would be, priceless paintings, statues in bronze and stone and a little boy from the dark neighborhood sketching from the masters, ideas that will one day, be priceless. Anyone can see them and watch them at the same time while not hindering another person from viewing the same piece. If everyone had the want or the money to pay for the funding of a museum, the museum would not have to charge a fee for entrance. This mission statement may be well thought out but in some cases it is not for the public at large. While providing external benefits for the surrounding community such as heightened awareness of education, which provides for a more productive and stable community, museums that charge an admission fee are not an economic public good. This problem also goes against the exclusion principle where in no one can be excluded from a public good even if they have not or cannot pay for it. In most cases, museums that charge a fee usually charge a nominal amount in the hopes of not providing a barrier to those who cannot afford priceless works of art to hang in the interior of their homes. In order to be a true public good, no one regardless of their financial status may be excluded. Art inside of museums where you did not have to pay to get in would be another example of a public good. Museums that do not charge a fee for admission are usually run through some kind of public funding.
Common topics in this essay:
Irvin Tucker,
DeVry University,
Museums Public,
museums charge,
charge fee,
museums charge fee,
art museums,
people afford,
public pay,
mission statement,
example public,
museums public,
|
Acceptance Essays
