In an e-mail exchange in response to the Bahamas being the number one most dangerous cruise destination recently, one responder indicated the problem was, "Too often in our archipelago, it is partisan party politics that carries the day and not citizens working together for the collective good."

I could not resist asking what the "collective good" is, as this seems to be phrase thrown around, mostly by the political class, or one group or the other, to get their way.

One response I received was, "it is much better to be public-spirited (or community- or civic-minded)."

Well many of us are public spirited (or community- or civic-minded) through service clubs, churches and the like, but most people have different priorities, particularly the political class, so how we can work for the collective good is an open question.

Now if the collective good means the application of the rule of law etc, I can understand it, but outside of that I'm not sure what else might apply.

So why can't it happen?

If we expect the political class or the government to ensure the collective good, we have another thing coming and Public Choice Theory confirms this.

In the words of James Buchanan, the theory "replaces… romantic and illusory… notions about the workings of governments [with]… notions that embody more skepticism."

As Jane Shaw notes in her explanation of Public Choice Theory…

"Public choice economists also examine the actions of legislators. Although legislators are expected to pursue the "public interest," they make decisions on how to use other people's resources, not their own. Furthermore, these resources must be provided by taxpayers and by those hurt by regulations whether they want to provide them or not. Politicians may intend to spend taxpayer money wisely. Efficient decisions, however, will neither save their own money nor give them any proportion of the wealth they save for citizens. There is no direct reward for fighting powerful interest groups in order to confer benefits on a public that is not even aware of the benefits or of who conferred them. Thus, the incentives for good management in the public interest are weak. In contrast, interest groups are organized by people with very strong gains to be made from governmental action. They provide politicians with campaign funds and campaign workers. In return they receive at least the "ear" of the politician and often gain support for their goals."

Find out more about James Buchanan here…

If you are interested in finding out more visit this link… Public choice: what to read.