Which goods are the most difficult to produce in the global economy and why?

Question

From four options: public goods, private goods, inclusive club goods and common pool resources.

Answer 1

Public goods are. They have an extra set of steps in gaining political approval, specification, and funding. In most cases, the public goods are provided by private goods suppliers, but, again, there has to be a politically approved decision process in between.

Case in point (but far from limited to) is Haliburton in recent years. Haliburton was tapped by the Clinton administration as a sole-source provider of various government services. This was because the normal bidding process was too cumbersome. Then when political pressures came to bear on the Bush administration who merely kept the previously designated special services provider, suddenly there were accusations of malicious or corrupt decision-making on president Bush's part. Haliburton, meanwhile, found the pressures and lack of profits too onerous and offered to sell the government services division, the firm previously famous for building factories and refineries, Kellog, Brown, & Root--but no one was interested in buying it.

Having worked for a (different) government contractor, I can tell you that while government contracts can be incredibly lucrative, they can also be immensely unprofitable and a royal pain at others.