Tragedy Of Commons Essay

A public good is defined as an economic good or service that is non-rivalrous and non-excludable. Due to scarcity and human greed, public goods will always be underprovided. Since it is impossible to stop someone from consuming these types of goods, people will keep on consuming it until there is none left. If one does not consume or harvest it today, someone else will consume it tomorrow. This had brought an attention to ecologist, Garrett Hardin. Hardin came up with an economic theory called “The tragedy of Commons” .What is tragedy of commons? The tragedy of commons befalls when individuals act based on their personal interest ignoring the well-being of society. Due to his theory, natural resources are depleting drastically because they are being exploited with no limit.
According to Hardin, freedom is the cause of tragedy of commons. There is no technical solution to solve it. The only solution is to alter human’s principles. The article by Hardin focused on the population growth. Overpopulation is an example of tragedy of commons. Because the world is finite, one is unable to maximize goods and population at the same time. Hardin then propose that the only solution is to limit breeding. “Common system from breeding must be abandoned”
The only solution to tragedy of commons is to come up with a coercion that we collectively agreed upon. As he mentioned, “only individual’s conscience will solve it”
Wade “The Management of Common Property Resources: Finding a Cooperative Solution propose that collective action is the most effective solution to the tragedy of commons. Moreover, it is cheaper than government intervention and privatization but will it work? Many argued that it is not possible for ind...

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...ywhere else by creating their own unusual fishing rules. Maine divided themselves into two different types of lobstering territories. Nucleated and perimeter-defended territories. Both of these territories have strong sense of ownership. This unusual fishing norms have proven that collective action is effective.
Indeed, collective action may sound like the most logical approach but it will never be 100% effective. Maine’s lobster industry’s unusual collective action worked but it worked because it involves violence and fear of the ‘harbor gang’. In order to make a collective action work, It will take years and years to alter people’s thoughts and behavior. Human beings are too caught up in their own gains too see the cost of their selfishness on other individuals. This is why the tragedy of commons exist. Throughout the
Tragedy of commons is inevitable