Organizations and efficiency in public services: The case of English lighthouses revisited
重新评估19世纪初英国灯塔组织的成本和技术效率，发现私人控制程度高的灯塔收费更高、运营成本更大，而地方代表和资助的灯塔维护成本最低，解释了政府为何选择非营利组织而非私人企业运营灯塔。
Abstract Foundational debates about public service provision originate with the study of private lighthouses in England and Wales. We provide a new empirical assessment of cost and technical efficiency of competing lighthouse organizations in the early 1800s. Those with more private control charged ships higher fees and had greater operating costs. Lights with more local representation and funding provided lights of more local use and were most cheaply maintained. Our results help explain why government promoted nonprofit organizations to run lighthouses over private operators. We provide new insights into the role of private enterprise and nonprofit organizations in public service provision.