 It has been suggested that the “public” nature of a public good may be an effect of its provision by the public rather than its cause (Cowen 1992: 6 credits unpublished work from 1987 by Boudewijn Bouckaert). If a good is provided by government, private actors have no reason to develop technologies that allow the exclusion of non-paying individuals. Accordingly, public investment in the good thereby makes a good that could be private a public good. Even if this idea is mistaken, it illustrates the fact that the boundary between private and public goods is not fixed because what is technologically possible depends in part on investment in research and development.