Tragedy of the commons From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The tragedy of the commons is a term, probably coined originally by William Forster Lloyd[1] and later used by Garrett Hardin, to denote a situation where individuals acting independently and rationally according to each's self-interest behave contrary to the best interests of the whole group by depleting some common resource.
The concept was based upon an essay written in 1833 by Lloyd, the Victorian economist, on the effects of unregulated grazing on common land and made widely-known by an article written by Hardin in 1968. "Commons" in this sense has come to mean such resources as atmosphere, oceans, rivers, fish stocks, an office refrigerator, energy or any other shared resource which is not formally regulated, not common land in its agricultural sense.
The tragedy of the commons concept is often cited in connection with sustainable development, meshing economic growth and environmental protection, as well as in the debate over global warming.
It has also been used in analyzing behavior in the fields of economics, evolutionary psychology, anthropology, game theory, politics,taxation, and sociology. However the concept, as originally developed, has also received criticism for not taking into account the many other factors operating to enforce or agree on regulation in this scenario.
(י) אַרְבַּע מִדּוֹת בָּאָדָם.
הָאוֹמֵר שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, זוֹ מִדָּה בֵינוֹנִית.
וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים, זוֹ מִדַּת סְדוֹם.
שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלָּךְ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, עַם הָאָרֶץ.
שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלָּךְ וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלָּךְ, חָסִיד.
שֶׁלִּי שֶׁלִּי וְשֶׁלְּךָ שֶׁלִּי, רָשָׁע:
(10) There are four kinds of people:
the one who says "what is mine is mine, and what is yours is yours" -- that's a "beinonit" (intermediate-level person).
There are some who say that is the kind of people that were in Sodom. [A second type is one who says] "
what is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine" -- [that's an] "am ha'aretz" (uneducated or low-level Jewish person).
[A third type is one who says] "what is mine is yours, and what is yours is yours" -- [that's a] "chasid" (righteous person).
[A final type is one who says] "what is yours is mine, and what is mine is mine" -- [that's a] "rasha" (wicked person).
In 1833, the English economist William Forster Lloyd published a pamphlet which included an example of herders sharing a common parcel of land on which they are each entitled to let their cows graze. In English villages, shepherds had sometimes grazed their sheep in common areas, and sheep ate grass more severely than cows. He suggested overgrazing could result because for each additional sheep, a herder could receive benefits, while the group shared 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
“If I am I because I am I, and you are you because you are you, then I am I and you are you.
But, if I am I because you are you, and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you”. – R’Mendel of Kotzk