National defense is a good that is non excludable and nonrival in consumption. Suppose that, instead of national defense being paid with tax dollars, national defense is paid by voluntary contributions from (potentially) all individuals within Latvia.
Alan, who is a Latvian citizen, must decide whether he wants to contribute to the national defense budget Further, suppose that there are a total of 10 citizens, including Alan. For the optimal amount of safety, each citizen should pay $10. Every $1 contributed (by anyone) to the national defense, leads to increased security, which each person values at $0.25. This means that every dollar spent on defense is worth $2.50 to Latvia as a whole.
Suppose that, instead of relying on voluntary contributions, the government simply levies a tax of $10 on each person to pay for national defense. How much better or worse off would Alan be if everyone (including himself) were taxed $10 instead of contributing voluntarily?
If Alan is worse off, be sure to put a negative sign in front of the number.