Microeconomics · free preview
The Tragedy of the Commons
Rival but nonexcludable resources are overused because each user captures the full benefit of use while bearing only a fraction of the cost, and repairs come through property rights, quotas, or community governance.
1. The pasture that everyone owns
The pasture that everyone owns
2. The three repairs
The three repairs
3. Congestion and club goods
Congestion and club goods
4. The planet as the final commons
The planet as the final commons
5. The tragedy's mechanism
Why does an open pasture get overgrazed?
6. Ostrom's finding
What did Elinor Ostrom's research show about commons governance?
7. The herder's ledger
Adding a cow earns a herder 100 dollars while costing the commons 120 dollars, shared equally among 10 herders. Compute the herder's private share of the cost in dollars, and write the number.
8. The pasture's arithmetic
Why does an open pasture get overgrazed?
9. Ostrom's counterexample
What did Elinor Ostrom's research show about commons governance?
10. The shared bite
Adding a cow earns a herder 80 dollars while grazing damage totals 150 dollars shared equally among 30 herders. Compute the private cost the adding herder personally bears, and write the number.
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