IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/pubfin/v8y1980i2p153-169.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

All “NG†up an Clubs?/ some Notes on the Current Status of Club Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Geoffrey Brennan

    (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University)

  • Marilyn Flowers

    (University of Oklahoma)

Abstract

This article aims to analyze two aspects of the theory of clubs which are currently matters of some controversy: the question of optimal club size and the distinction between clubs and firms. Both aspects become of interest when the optimal number of clubs is small relative to population. In the case where population is relatively large, the original Buchanan determination of "optimal" club size is essentially correct, but there is no substantive difference between clubs and firms. In the case where optimal club size is relatively large, the Ng criticism of Buchanan's analysis is somewhat more appropriate— though, as we show, only strictly valid in one rather special case. In this quasi-monopoly setting, the distinction between clubs and firms becomes substantive, and is explored in this article under plausible assumptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Geoffrey Brennan & Marilyn Flowers, 1980. "All “NG†up an Clubs?/ some Notes on the Current Status of Club Theory," Public Finance Review, , vol. 8(2), pages 153-169, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:8:y:1980:i:2:p:153-169
    DOI: 10.1177/109114218000800202
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/109114218000800202
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/109114218000800202?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berglas, Eitan, 1976. "On the Theory of Clubs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 66(2), pages 116-121, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. al-Nowaihi, Ali & Fraser, Clive D., 2012. "Does the public sector over-provide club goods? A general result," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 397-400.
    2. Ruxian Wang & Maqbool Dada & Ozge Sahin, 2019. "Pricing Ancillary Service Subscriptions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4712-4732, October.
    3. Müller Christian, 2007. "Frühkindliche Bildung und Betreuung in Tageseinrichtungen als Staatsaufgabe / The Governmental Provision of Early Childhood Education and Care," ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, De Gruyter, vol. 58(1), pages 131-148, January.
    4. Donna Driscoll & Dennis Halcoussis & Anton D. Lowenberg, 2010. "Explaining Local Growth-Management Policies: The Role of Public Goods," American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, Science Publications, vol. 2(1), pages 45-55, March.
    5. Bandyopadhyay, Siddhartha & Cabrales, Antonio, 2023. "Pricing group membership," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 114-121.
    6. Quérou, Nicolas & Tomini, Agnes & Costello, Christopher, 2022. "Limited‐tenure concessions for collective goods," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    7. Molero, Juan Carlos, 2001. "Analysis Of The Decentralization Of Public Spending In Spain," MPRA Paper 8056, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Sergio Vergalli, 2008. "The Role of Community in Migration Dynamics," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 22(3), pages 547-567, September.
    9. Fraser, Clive D. & Hollander, Abraham, 1990. "On Membership in Clubs," Economic Research Papers 268381, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    10. Small, Kenneth A., 1999. "Economies of scale and self-financing rules with non-competitive factor markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 431-450, December.
    11. Berglas, Eitan & Helpman, Elhanan & Pines, David, 1982. "The economic theory of clubs : Some clarifications," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 10(3-4), pages 343-348.
    12. Bucovetsky, Sam & Glazer, Amihai, 2014. "Efficiency, equilibrium and exclusion when the poor chase the rich," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 166-177.
    13. Gersbach, Hans & Haller, Hans, 2010. "Club theory and household formation," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(5), pages 715-724, September.
    14. Charles A. M. de Bartolome & Stephen L. Ross, 2002. "The Race to the Suburb: The Location of the Poor in a Metropolitan Area," Working papers 2002-02, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised May 2008.
    15. Lall, Somik V. & Lundberg, Mattias K.A. & Shalizi, Zmarak, 2008. "Implications of alternate policies on welfare of slum dwellers: Evidence from Pune, India," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 56-73, January.
    16. Hideo Konishi, 2010. "Efficient Mixed Clubs: Nonlinear‐Pricing Equilibria With Entrepreneurial Managers," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 35-63, March.
    17. Torsten Steinrücken & Sebastian Jaenichen, 2007. "The Fair Trade Idea: Towards an Economics of Social Labels," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 201-217, September.
    18. Michele Caputo & Francesco Forte, 2015. "Difficult Convergence among the Five Main European Union Countries and the Crisis of the Euro Area," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 43(4), pages 415-430, December.
    19. Sergio Vergalli, 2011. "Entry and Exit Strategies in Migration Dynamics," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 362-389, December.
    20. Lipsman, Michael Aaron, 1994. "A theory of transportation clubs with special application to the domestic aviation system," ISU General Staff Papers 1994010108000012284, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:pubfin:v:8:y:1980:i:2:p:153-169. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.