Positive externality

Imagine that every time you eat candy, you share some with your friend. Your friend gets some candy that they didn't pay for or ask for, but they still benefit from it. This is called a positive externality!

A positive externality happens when an action by one person benefits someone else, without either of them intending for it to happen. When someone does something that helps others without intending to, that could be a positive externality.

In the candy example, you might share because you want to be nice to your friend, or because you don't want to eat too much candy by yourself. Either way, your friend still gets the benefit of the candy, even though they didn't do anything to earn it.

Another example of a positive externality could be planting flowers in your garden. When you plant flowers, they can smell good and look pretty, but they also help bees and other pollinators by providing them with a place to collect nectar and pollen. You didn't plant the flowers specifically to help the bees, but they still benefit from it.

Positive externalities can be great for everyone involved because they create a sort of "bonus" benefit that wasn't originally intended. By doing something good for yourself, you might accidentally do something good for someone else, too!