Tragedy Of The Commons

Questions:

1. What is Garret Hardin most concerned about?

He is concerned about the environment and that we are overusing it. He points out the negative externalities of overwidening when adding one more cow to your herd. He is worried about public properties being overtrashed and sais that commons need to be limited since "freedom in a commons brings ruin to all".

2. How can "the commons" best be defined?

Resources which are owned by everyone.

3. Are individuals who overuse "the commons" acting irrationally? Explain.

Since it is not their property the harm to society does not affect them much. But more and more individuals are overusing the commons which leads to a fast growing of marginal cost to society.

4. Besides the "common pasture", what other resources does Hardin identify as "commons"?
-National Parks
-Pollution

5. What are some of the possible solutions he suggests for the problems faced by America's National Parks?
-privatize them
-allocate the right to enter them

6. How are air and water different from pastures, the oceans, and national parks in the "tragedy" presented by the common resources?
-they belong to noone so no one will look after them
-they cannot be privatised

7. What are some of the possible solutions Hardin suggests for the "cesspool" tragedy represented by the pollution of our air and water?
-coersive laws
-taxing devices

8. How does the tragedy of the commons lead to market failure?
-Marginal Private Cost is smaller than Marginal Social Cost
-There is an overallocation of resources towards these commons