Tragedy of The Commons
The tragedy of The Commons is a phenomenon that can arise when many humans (or other agents) act in their own self-interest when using a Common.
Commons
A 'common' is a common good, which can be defined by having two properties:
- Non-Exclusivity: You can't exclude someone who doesn't pay for the good from using it and if you pay more you don't get more in return.
- Non-Rivalry: The consumption from one single person doesn't degrade the good significantly.
Example
A public park is a good example of a Common because even if you pay more in taxes you don't have more of the park AND if you go to the park you don't make everyone else's experience worse.
The 'Tragedy'
The problem is that, if no one pays for the park because they have no apparent incentive to, then no one gets to enjoy it AND if everyone else starts going to the park a lot because it's essentially free, it's going to get crowded and maybe even accumulate trash.
As we can see, if people think selfishly and in the short-term, any common goods will be overused and/ or completely disappear.
How can this not be a problem
The thing is, despite human psychology being apparently against us, there are many solutions to this problem, for example:
- The Community that uses the good defines rules for its usage.
- Making that good Private Property.
- And, of course, good ol' Government Regulation
Conclusion
For centuries, humans managed to use common goods for the Common Good, farmers had to not overuse their common land and fishers had to not overfish in their area, for example, even with little to no communication to their King or liege.
Do you think the Tragedy of The Commons is a common problem? (See what I did there ;) )
Leave your opinion in the comments!
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Take a look at my last posts, about Price Manipulation: