Territorial defense
Territorial defense can satisfy non-excludability and non-rivalry. It passes the test only if free-rider incentives persistently undermine the financing, coordination, or participation needed to sustain the collective function
CASES
Stress Testing
Every exception must prove itself
THE MINIMAL TOLERANCE THEOREM
T → (NE ∧ NR ∧ CV)
T
Tolerability of coercion on grounds of necessity
NE
Effective non-excludability
NR
Relevant non-rivalry
CV
Persistent collapse of voluntary provision
THE STRONGEST CANDIDATES
Functions that pass the test
Internal security and legal order
Some functions of collective security and legal order can satisfy the first two conditions. The remaining burden is to establish that voluntary provision persistently fails to sustain the relevant function
Major emergencies and epidemics
Exceptional emergencies can create functions whose benefits are difficult to exclude and broadly shared. They pass only where persistent voluntary collapse is also established for the specific function under examination
OUTSIDE THE EXCEPTION
Functions that fail the test
Health, education, and pensions
These goods may be essential and socially valuable, but their importance does not remove rivalry or make exclusion ineffective. They therefore fail before persistent voluntary collapse becomes relevant
Labor regulation and paternalism
Restrictions on wages, contracts, benefits, and working conditions may pursue distributive or paternalistic goals, but those grounds do not establish the three conditions required by the theorem
Political parties and ordinary regulation
Political influence, unequal bargaining power, concentration, and undesirable conduct may raise serious concerns. They do not by themselves establish effective non-excludability, relevant non-rivalry, and persistent collapse of voluntary provision
BORDERLINE CASES
Not every function has a clear answer
Major urban arteries and open roads
Toll roads and private streets can permit effective exclusion, while some open networks may not. Congestion, technology, ownership, scale, and alternative financing arrangements can change the result
Basic scientific research
Knowledge can be difficult to exclude and can often be used without diminishing what remains for others. The remaining question is whether free-rider incentives prevent voluntary institutions from sustaining the relevant research function over time
Non-excludable urban services
Some urban services, such as open street lighting or other broadly shared local networks, may satisfy the first two conditions where exclusion is impracticable. The remaining question is whether voluntary provision can sustain the relevant function in a stable way
THE RESULT
Each function stands on its own
The theorem does not accept or reject the State as a whole. Each function is evaluated independently, and passing one creates no presumption in favor of another
Any tolerance remains contingent on the conditions that supported it. Changes in technology, institutions, or voluntary provision can therefore require the exception to be examined again
THE BOOK
See the complete stress test
The book puts the theorem to the test across many more cases, including those where the exception seems most plausible and its limits hardest to draw