National Defense and the Fundamental Problem With "Public Goods"

Since the time of Adam Smith in his The Wealth of Nations, it has often been argued that there may be some goods for "which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or small number of individuals, to erect and maintain; because the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, though it may frequently do much more than repay it to a great society."

This has been the basis for what has become known in the jargon of the economist as public goods.