Actually this is not true. The first roads in America were private toll roads, and there are private security forces (police) operating all over the world. The question is who provides these services more efficently, government or private companies? In the past government has had the edge but that is beginning to change as services continue to become more specialized.
Monday: Actually this is not true. The first roads in America were private toll roads, and there are private security forces (police) operating all over the world. The question is who provides these services more efficently, government or private companies? In the past government has had the edge but that is beginning to change as services continue to become more specialized.
The key word in my statement was public. Private armies choose whom to defend. Private roads exclude those who either cannot afford or undesirable for other reasons.
If you subscribe to the idea that every cisizen of a village has the right to walk in the streets, and if you want those streets to be lighted, the market economy will fail to help you because of the public nature (indivisible consumption) of street lighting.