Pardon the delay, but I've been trying to think of a good brief description. I'm not sure I've got one that's particularly clear.
"Common weal", that is, the common wealth or common good, a/k/a social benefit, is probably the best general description. The notion being that there are positive externalities not addressed by the market (or there are offsetting negative externalities not imposed on the producer).
In either case, a useful functioning requires some entity with the interest, capacity, and power, to act in the public interest. The notion is an old one. It comprises Book V of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations ("The Expenses of the Sovereign"), or in contemporary economics, the area of public sector economics (or welfare economics).
And is the domain of government, as my initial response indicated.
"Common weal", that is, the common wealth or common good, a/k/a social benefit, is probably the best general description. The notion being that there are positive externalities not addressed by the market (or there are offsetting negative externalities not imposed on the producer).
In either case, a useful functioning requires some entity with the interest, capacity, and power, to act in the public interest. The notion is an old one. It comprises Book V of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations ("The Expenses of the Sovereign"), or in contemporary economics, the area of public sector economics (or welfare economics).
And is the domain of government, as my initial response indicated.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/commonweal
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Wealth_of_Nations/Book_V/...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_economics