Why Public Health Is Not About Public Goods

Journal article

According to the Public Goods Account, proposed by Jonny Anomaly, public health activities should only be concerned with the provision of health-related public goods. In this paper, I argue that the Public Goods Account cannot serve as an adequate account of public health activity. The main reason is that its central concept, that of health-related public goods, is itself implausible. I offer two potential understandings of health-related public goods and argue that, on both understandings, the provision of health-related public goods is neither necessary nor sufficient for a public health activity. First, on both understandings, there are plausible examples of public health activities that do not produce health-related public goods. And second, there are examples of non-public health activities that produce health-related public goods.

Authors: Savić, L

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Public Health Ethics
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 3
• Article number: phaf023
• Publication date: 2025-11-27
• DOI: 10.1093/phe/phaf023
• EISSN: 1754-9981
• ISSN: 1754-9973
• Language: English