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Lighthouses

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Encyclopedia of Law and Economics

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Abstract

From being a symbol of the necessity for publicly financing public goods, since Coase’s 1974 article “The lighthouse in economics,” the lighthouse has instead become a symbol of the private sector’s ability to provide public goods, and subsequently an archetype of a mistaken economic policy justified by “market failures.” However, recent studies in economics, law, and history have uncovered different mixes of private and public finance in the provision of lighthouse services over time, exhibiting the practical problems involved in providing public goods.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS and University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (ISJPS, UMR 8103), Paris, France

    Elodie Bertrand

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  1. Elodie Bertrand
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Correspondence to Elodie Bertrand .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Montpellier, France

    Alain Marciano

  2. Dept DiGSPES, Univ del Piemonte Orientale Dept DiGSPES, Alessandria, Italy

    Giovanni Battista Ramello

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Bertrand, E. (2021). Lighthouses. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G.B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_629-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_629-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7883-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7883-6

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Lighthouses
    Published:
    08 June 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_629-2

  2. Original

    Lighthouses
    Published:
    09 December 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7883-6_629-1

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