Evolution of Tragedy of the Commons

Background:

• The tragedy of the commons is a concept that describes the depletion of a shared resource due to overuse by individuals acting in their own self-interest:
• The term was first introduced by William Forster Lloyd in 1833, who used the example of cattle herders sharing a common parcel of land on which they were each entitled to let their cows graze. He postulated that if a herder put more than his allotted number of cattle on the common, overgrazing could result. For each additional animal, a herder could receive additional benefits, while the whole group shared the resulting damage to the commons. If all herders made this individually rational economic decision, the common could be depleted or even destroyed, to the detriment of all.
• The concept was later popularized by ecologist Garrett Hardin in his 1968 essay titled “The Tragedy of the Commons”. Hardin argued that should a number of people enjoy unfettered access to a finite, valuable resource such as a pasture, they will tend to over-use it, and may end up destroying its value altogether. To exercise voluntary restraint is not a rational choice for individuals – if they did, the other users would merely supplant them – yet the predictable result is a tragedy for all.

Adoption and contradiction:

• Since then, the concept has been widely discussed in economics, ecology and other sciences. Scholars have debated whether over-exploitation of the common resource is by no means inevitable, since the individuals concerned may be able to achieve mutual restraint by consensus. Others have contended that the metaphor is inapposite because its exemplar - unfettered access to common land - did not exist historically, the right to exploit common land being controlled by law.
• Despite its popularity and influence, there are several conceptual errors associated with this theory. For instance, it assumes that people are inherently selfish and will always act in their own self-interest. However, research has shown that people are often willing to cooperate and work together for mutual benefit. Additionally, it ignores the role of institutions and governance structures in managing shared resources.

Modern times:

• The tragedy of the commons explains many of today’s sustainability issues. For instance, overfishing and destruction of marine ecosystems. Coffee consumption is another example of the tragedy of the commons. Coffee plants are a naturally occurring shared resource, but overconsumption has led to habitat loss endangering 60 percent of the plants’ species —including the most commonly brewed Arabica coffee. The world’s atmosphere is one of the ultimate common pooled resources: The level of atmospheric carbon rises in poor countries, where people produce almost no greenhouse gases per person, at the same rate as it does in rich countries, where people produce much more 

References:

Hardin, G. ‘Extensions of ‘the tragedy of the commons’’, Science 280(5364) 1998, pp.682–683. 

Pires, S.F. and W.D. Moreto  ‘Preventing wildlife crimes: Solutions that can overcome the ‘tragedy of the commons’, European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 17 2011, pp.101–123. 

Mildenberger, M. ‘The tragedy of the tragedy of the commons’, Scientific American 2019. 

Menzies, H. Reclaiming the commons for the common good. (Gabriola: New Society Publishers, 2014.). 

Frischmann, B. M., A. Marciano, and G. Battista Ramello. 2019. ‘Retrospectives: Tragedy of the commons after 50 years’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 33 (4) pp. 211–28. 

Lozny L,R. and T.H. McGovern (eds.) Global perspectives on long term community resource management. (New York: Springer International Publishing 2019).