Tragedy of Commons

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Garrett Hardin’s famous article, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” recognized the overuse that occurs when resources are freely available to everyone in common. This essay examines why it has often proven so difficult to solve commons dilemmas through regulation, privatization, and other measures. Using fishing, groundwater extraction, and global warming as examples, the essay suggests that stakeholders find it particularly difficult to agree on solutions, even where a universally imposed solution would be in most stakeholders’ interests, because people are reticent to accept current losses to avoid future risks, the dilemmas are characterized by significant scientific and social uncertainty, and users heavily discount the probability and cost of future losses. Turning to potential ways around these obstacles, the essay discusses why commons dilemmas cannot be solved purely through legal coercion or changes in environmental attitude. The essay suggests a variety of ways to improve the chances of convincing resource users that there is a problem that must be addressed and then getting them to agree both on a solution and how to allocate the burden of that solution. In 1968, Garrett Hardin published his famous and oft-cited article, “The Tragedy of the Commons,” examining the overuse of commonly shared resources.1 Hardin chose his title well. The problem of the tragedy of the commons has been recognized since at least the days of Aristotle. But Hardin gave the problem a vivid and visceral name that quickly captures our attention and tells us much of what we need to know. Anyone who has studied the environment for very long understands the tragedy of the commons. Where resources are freely available to everyone in common, everyone has an incentive to take as much of that resource as they want, even though the collective result may be the

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