Hardin - The Tragedy of the Commons

What is the tragedy of the commons?

• refers to a class of problems where individuals, acting rationally in their own self-interest, deplete or degrade a shared resource, leading to ruin for all

What is the analogy of the pasture?

• a pasture “common” open to all where each herdsman seeks to maximize gain by continuously adding animals to his herd

• since every rational herdsman pursues this same course, they are collectively locked into a system that compels them to increase their own hers without limit in a finite world

• leads to the remorseless working of things

How does this work in reverse applicatoin?

• it explains pollution, where a rational individual discharges wastes into the commons for someone else to purify (free-riding) because the cost of purifying those wastes is higher than the smaller shared cost of fouling the envrironment

What does it mean to have no technical solution?

• a problem that cannot be solved in a technical way, like overpopulation 

• requires a change in human values or ideas of morality 

What is the solution?

• make social arrangements that create coercion

  • mutually agreed upon

• we accept compulsory taxes because we recognize that voluntary systems would favor the conscienceless

What does population have to do with it?

• commons is only justifiable under low-population density so…

• when people agree to laws, mankind becomes more free, not less so

• “freedom is the recognition of necessity”

  • once people see necessity of mutual coercion, they are free to pursue goals other than universal ruin

• Ultimate crisis: abandon the commons in breeding (not through conscience but through relinquishing the freedom to breed)