Question

The French government recently allocated the equivalent of more than $120 million in public funds to Quaero (Latin for “I search”), an Internet search engine analogous to Google or Yahoo. Does an Internet search engine satisfy the key characteristics of public good? Why or why not? Based on your answer, is a publicly funded Internet search engine a public good or a government-sponsored good?

Short answer

An Internet search engine is not a public good.

A publicly-funded search engine is a government-sponsored good.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1. Definition of the public good.

Public goods are those goods that are non-rival and non-excludable in characteristics.

Step 2. Internet search engine.

The Internet search engine is not a public good because it does not satisfy all the characteristics of the public good. It is non-rival as the quality does not change for every different person but it is excludable if login Id and password are put in.

A publicly-funded search engine is a government-sponsored good.