Any sufficiently plentiful good is a free good. When a diminishing need is met completely by its appropriate good, a good is considered free good as there is no residual need for additional goods left behind. With the presence of a free good, a need is no longer an insatiable need but a vanished need, so an economic process is not required. The free good is not a deficient good, and it cannot be economised as an economic good.
Historical Backdrop
• FRIEDRICH VON HERMANN Investigations in Political Economy: non-economic good.
• CARL MENGER Principles of Economics: non-economic good.
• FRIEDRICH WIESER Natural Value: free good.
• ALFRED MARSHALL Principles of Economics: free good.