Indivisible goods are goods that cannot be divided without losing some of their original value and that can only be used simultaneously by one person.
Examples of indivisible goods are family photos, a cup of milk, health care, time with friends or loved ones, etc.
For instance, if you go to purchase groceries for your family of four, then you can share the grocery with each family member, making sure that they have all their share. But when a person takes half the milk before you even get time to drink it, there is nothing left.
It is hard to put values on indivisible goods
For instance, your neighbor is having a party. And it requests that you help arrange the chairs in the backyard. You can’t ask him or her how much they are willing to pay for this favor in terms of hours/dollars. You couldn’t just take what they wanted to pay and divide it by an hourly rate to figure out what it would cost you per hour. This is because you do not know exactly how long it would take you to set up the chairs.
Indivisible goods involve issues of human and social capital
For instance, health care is an indivisible good because. If a person gets only half the required dosage of medicine for their illness. There is no way they can recover as quickly as someone who received the full dosage. This example shows how half the dosage would not only not cure their disease or illness. But it could even make them worse off.
Similarly, time with friends and loved ones is an indivisible good. Because if you are spending time with one person. Who isn’t your friend/loved one, you cannot be spending that time with someone else.
Therefore, these examples show how health care and human relations. Indivisible goods because they can only be used simultaneously by one person.
Indivisible good would be a piece of art
Another example, If you break up a painting into parts. Each part will no longer give the same value as the. Whole original painting did before it was broken up into pieces. Similarly, if half of your friends are part of a social event. Then you cannot go to that social event with the other half of your friends.
Indivisible goods also can include family photos
Family photographs, of course, can also be examples of nondivisible goods because they lose their original value if torn into pieces. For instance, imagine someone cutting all the family photos you have in pieces and turning them into confetti, so people may throw them around at some party. That surely could not be called “the good life”. Because when the images lost their values as documents that had to do with memories of how enjoyable and how happy you were with loved ones.
The same concept goes for time with friends or loved ones because. If you only spend time with some of these people instead of everyone. Then there is no way these people can fill all roles in friendships or relationships. Which can lead to negative consequences.
The opposite of indivisible goods is divisible goods, which can be broken up and divided without losing any value
Examples include money, furniture, food, etc. For example, you can give your friend five dollars. And then they will still have five dollars at the end. You can also split furniture like a table into pieces. And then every member of the family will have their chair to sit on during supper. Moreover, if someone consumes half of the sandwich before you consume it. Then you will only need to eat the other half after they finish theirs, and there won’t be anything left for you. These examples show how these items are divisible. Because they do not lose any value when they are broken up and divided into smaller pieces.
Indivisible goods are things that cannot be separated
The goods that cannot be divided, such as the passing of time with friends or a family member, are known as indivisible goods. Indivisibility is usually the core concept behind the philosophy in social welfare economics. It is commonly understood that indivisible Goods should, in reality, be divided equally among everybody. (or, at least, among those in certain posts). For instance, food usually has to be consumed within a short time after being prepared. If half of this cooked food is eaten by one person before another can eat any, then nothing remains for the latter person to consume, and he will not receive an equal share of its utility. This concept frequently appears in economic policies and debates about wealth distribution.
