Paper's abstract

Jean Clam, What is a Public Good. An Inquiry over the Meaning and the Width of Utility in Complex Societies
The article starts from the debate about privatisation, undertakes an analysis of the conception of the public good in the French administrative tradition and points out its deficiencies. It examines the attempts at a revitalisation of the ethics of the public service. A review of the sociological conditions shows the futility of the project. The author tries then to sketch, starting from the descriptive analysis of the Public Choice School, a theory of the socialisation of utility which, as a matter of fact, leads to question the relevance of the notion of privatisation. Thus, widening the theoretical framework, the author shows the necessity of a recasting of the primordial concepts (such as market, regulation, privacy...) and their directing distinctions.

Key Words : public good, privatisation, Public choice school
t. 41, 1997 : p. 215-265

---