Summary: The issue is public provision of private goods. Education and government charity are prominent examples. What can be legitimately said? Most of us would agree that individuals have a duty of personal charity. The right amount of charity is the amount fully informed individuals would choose to give when properly balancing the needs of their families and those who depend on them against the needs of others – information that government can never fully know. Frequently, government knows the needs of recipients less well than the private sector and is able to exert less accountability than private sector agents of charity.

Historically, the American ethical base has posited that government welcomes, encourages, and facilitates charity but is not its proper agent. Consistently with the efficiency approach of Chapter 4, there may be exceptions for special circumstances when technological impediments to private sector action, such as capital and information constraints, are central to preventing knowledge of, or – in the case of widespread disasters – quick enough response to life-threatening events and circumstances.