A merit good is a good deemed to have positive externalities, and provided by the government because of this, in order to internalise the externality. Inefficient provision of merit goods leads to "government failure".
Example Usage of Merit
EliseBlackwell: @lbgilbert I confess to not even knowing about it until now. There's Merit in pausing to make every 140 characters work at sentence level.
SlowZen: Is there any Merit in getting my 7 yo girl a nintendo DS, as I'm barely able to affoard it/will end up having to get another for her sister?
Anexia: @kimikofurball Yeah, there's always a lack of healers and tanks it seems...but my BRDs 75 and I can't even get a Merit invite :< lol
