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11 Examples of Public Capital

John Spacey, July 05, 2020

Public capital is any productive man-made asset owned by a government. This specifically excludes natural capital such as a lake and private capital owned by firms and individuals. Public capital is typically used as hard and soft social infrastructure that improves productivity, efficiency and quality of life on a national basis. The following are common types of public capital with examples of each.

Transportation Infrastructure

Infrastructure for moving people and goods.

Airports	Roads
Streets	Train Stations

Healthcare

It is very common for developed countries to provide universal public healthcare for free such that governments commonly own most of their healthcare system.

Clinical Lab	Clinics
Hospitals	Long-Term Care Facility

Education

Institutions that provide education, often for free or low cost.

Colleges	K-12 Schools
Training Programs	Universities

Justice

The criminal justice system.

Courts	Police
Prisons	Rehabilitation Programs

Safety Infrastructure

Hard and soft infrastructure that improves public safety.

Consumer Safety	Firefighting
Transportation Safety	‎Ambulances

Public Space

Public space is mostly natural capital such as land but includes services and land improvements that are public capital.

Beaches	City Parks
National Parks	Streets

Utilities

Utilities are basic services that are critical to quality of life. These are often owned by a government or heavily regulated to prevent monopolies from undermining the competitiveness and quality of life of a nation.

Electricity	Internet Access
Telephone	Water

Arts & Culture

Arts and culture programs and facilities.

Artifacts of Heritage	Historical Buildings
Museums	Performance Venues

Sports & Recreation

Places for international, national or community sports and recreation.

Arenas	Ice Rinks
Sports Infrastructure	Stadiums

Research

Research and development facilities and programs.

Labs	Science Infrastructure
Science Programs	Space Programs

Other

Any capital used by a government to provide its services is public capital. For example:

Energy Infrastructure	Government Buildings
IT Infrastructure	Waste Management Facilities

Notes

Communist systems own all capital such that all products and services are produced by the government with a system known as central planning. This is known to produce shortages, surpluses, waste and low quality products and services such that quality of life becomes terribly low. As such, there is a balance to be struck between public and private ownership of capital.