School districts, organized as territorial monopoly bureaus, are protected from that kind of competition. They are funded whether or not they perform. Social markets embody these forces. Behind a social market is the notion that ordinarily the recipients of services are more concerned about, and better judges of, their needs than is anyone in government. However, recipients of a service might not express all of society's relevant interests.
Government frequently provides services because of flaws in private markets.
As we saw in chapter 4, externalities are not necessarily and automatically accounted for in a market. Another instance of recipients not ex- pressing society's preferences occurs in the case of public goods. A public good such as police protection, research, or the ser- vices of a lighthouse is one that if enjoyed by one person is entirely available for others. It is not as simple as leaving services to be taken care of by private markets or even having services funded by government but produced by pri- vate organizations and purchased by private citizens. Thus there will be times when government officials must make the choice of producer.