Boyas, faros y la provisión voluntaria de bienes públicos

The debate over lighthouses has become a central feature of economic theory, since it addresses what kind of institutional setting may be able to supply services characterized by limitations to exclude non-payers and the potential of free riding conducts. In a seminal work Ronald Coase reported on the history of lighthouse provision in England and stressed the role of private investors and private funding for their building and operation. A debate ensued on whether this could be qualified as “private†considering they were financed through “light dues†of a coercive nature. Van Zandt afterwards classifies the different institutional settings in five categories ranging from total private provision and financing to complete government supply. He and other authors claimed there are no historical cases of private provision or financing with only government enforcement of property and contract rights. This article shows one such case presently working in the northern coast of the River Plate, in northern Buenos Aires. Its existence raises new issues to be considered.