Question

An open access good (or common property good), such as a fishery:

a) Is rival but not excludable
b) Is both rival and excludable
c) Is neither rival nor excludable
d) Is not rival but is excludable

Answer 1

An open access good like a fishery is non-excludable and rivalrous, meaning that while anyone can access the resource, its consumption by one person reduces its availability to others. The correct answer to the student's question is a) Is rival but not excludable.

Step-by-step explanation:

An open access good, such as a fishery, is characterized by being non-excludable and rivalrous. This means that anyone has access to the good (non-excludable) and the use of the good by one person diminishes its availability for others (rivalrous). Examples of these common resources include the conch fisheries in the Caribbean, where any conch caught by one fisherman cannot be caught by another, leading to a situation known as the tragedy of the commons.

The correct answer to the student's question is a) Is rival but not excludable, as anyone with basic equipment can participate in the harvest (non-excludable), and the catch by one person prevents another from catching the same (rival). This dynamic often leads to overharvesting and depletion of the resource.