Rival Good

A rival good is a type of product or service that can only be possessed or consumed by a single user. When a good is rival in consumption, it may be subject to strong demand and fierce competition—factors that tend to drive up prices.

These items can be durable, meaning they may only be used one at a time, or nondurable, meaning they are destroyed after consumption, allowing only one user to enjoy it. 

Certain goods, such as a bottle of beer or designer t-shirt, are subject to consumption rivalry. If someone drinks the bottle or buys the t-shirt, it is no longer available for anybody else to consume. Because these types of goods can only be used or occupied by one person, competition is created for their consumption. Consumers, therefore, become rivals in an attempt to obtain them.

How much competition there is, of course, depends on availability. If there are lots of the same bottles of beer on supermarket shelves, it's easy to procure another one, provided that thousands of other people aren't eager to buy them at that particular moment.

Conversely, if the designer t-shirt is of a limited edition, one-of-a-kind nature, it's possible that people engage in a price war and are willing to pay over the odds to get their hands on it. Competition for this type of rival good is also compounded by the availability of apparel in sizes that meet each consumer’s needs. Manufacturers might only produce limited quantities of products for certain sizes. As a result, consumers who require hard-to-find sizes must compete with each other to procure the items they need.

Sometimes, rival goods can be reused by somebody else at a later stage. For example, durable goods such as a skateboard might be sold after the current owner is finished with it.

A non-durable good, such as a cup of coffee or apple, does not fall into this category because it perishes after consumption. Only one consumer can drink the coffee or eat the apple. After it is gone, there will be nothing left to consume.

Goods are either classified as rival or non-rival. A rival good is something that can only be possessed or consumed by a single user. A good that can be consumed or possessed by multiple users, on the other hand, is said to be a non-rival good.

The internet and radio stations are examples of goods that are nonrival. Many people can access them at the same time, and they can be consumed over and over again without impacting their quality or running the risk that supply will be depleted.

Non-excludable goods are public goods that cannot exclude a certain individual or group of individuals from using them. For this reason, it is nearly impossible to restrict access to the consumption of non-excludable goods. A public road is an example of a non-excludable good.

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