Private good

A private good is defined in economics as a good that exhibits these properties:

• Excludable - it is reasonably possible to prevent a class of consumers (e.g. those who have not paid for it) from consuming the good.
• Rivalrous - consumptions by one consumer prevents simultaneous consumption by other consumers. Private goods satisfies an individual want while public good satisfies a collective want of the society.

A private good is the opposite of a public good, as they are almost exclusively made for profit.

An example of the private good is bread: bread eaten by a given person cannot be consumed by another (rivalry), and it is easy for a baker to refuse to trade a loaf (excludable).

One of the most common ways of looking at goods in the economy, illustrated in the table below, is the classic division based on:

• is there a competition involved in obtaining a given good?
• is it possible to exclude a person from consumption of a given good?

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