[wtrk]

Just to clarify, Coase wrote (in "The Lighthouse in Economics" in the 1970's) specifically on the case of lighthouses in the British Isles.

Lighthouses in England are maintained by Trinity House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_House) which is not in any recognizable way a private organization. While it operates with a large degree of autonomy, it is part of the UK government.

According to Coase, Trinity House funds its activities through "light dues" that are assessed on a per-tonnage basis to ships arriving at or departing from British ports. Assuming that there are never shortfalls or times when TH needs to draw on outside funds, then the scheme is self-supporting.

IOW, We're not looking at a bunch of hard-working libertarian lighthouse keepers each independently negotiating with ship captains in a free market.