What is the Tragedy of the Commons?

The Tragedy of the Commons is a situation in which a shared natural resource is overused and
depleted due individual use that has little or no regard for the good of the resource and the other
stakeholders involved.
History and Use
The idea of the Tragedy of the Commons was first conceptualized by a British economist named
William Forster Lloyd in 1832, and later made famous through an article written by Garrett
Hardin in 1968. The tragedy of the commons is useful in a variety of areas of study such as
natural resource use, economics, environmental science, politics, and sociology, as it deals with
natural resource management, the policies that enact management, and the people that accept or
reject management.
Real World Examples
An example of tragedy of the commons would be Grand Banks Fishery off the coast of
Newfoundland. Grand Banks Fishery was known for its large amounts of cod, a staple of the
Western European diet. Large-scale cod fishing in this area started as early as the 16th century,
and was continually fished for hundreds of years until its collapse in the 1970s. Before the
collapse, the cod catch was 810,000 tons, while after the collapse in 1974 it was 34,000 tons. A
catch limit was implemented in order to help regain the cod population, but the ban was in vain.
In 1992 there were almost no adult cod found in the area, and later as the catch limit played out,
the cod were never able to return to a healthy population. This is a classic example of tragedy of
the commons, as each individual fisherman caught as many cod as possible without regard for
the resource. Although a few extra cod caught for one fisherman does not make a large
difference, as each fisherman tries to catch as many fish as possible, depletion and destruction of
the fishery quickly ensues. This comes from striving only for goals of personal and individual
gain, instead of considering the overall the health and benefit of the shared resource.
Solutions
There are a few different ways that scientists and economists propose to solve the Tragedy of the
Commons. Some suggest that privatization will solve resource depletion problems, while others
believe that government intervention is the only solution. There are others, including Garrett
Hardin, who propose that there is no simple technical solution, which implies simply change in
techniques of the natural resource management. Hardin stresses that instead of a technical
solution, we need increase education on natural resource management and holistically change
human values and conscience concerning the earth. This will begin to help us efficiently deal
with natural resource problems in the most moral way.
Sources
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/grandbanks.htm
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243.full

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/TragedyoftheCommons.html

How does the Tragedy of the Commons work?

Shared Resource: The Tragedy of the Commons all begins with a shared resource or The
Commons. In Figure 1, this shared resource is a 40 acre field divided between 4 different
stakeholders.

Sustainable Use:
Next comes use of
The Commons.
Each stakeholder
has 5 cows of
different colors
that graze on the
field. The
stakeholders have
remained within
the 20 cow limit
(carrying
capacity), which
allows the field to
be sustainably
grazed, meaning
that the grass is
able maintain
natural, large-scale
growth throughout
its use.
Figure 1: An Illustration of the Tragedy of the Commons

Depleted Resource: As each stakeholder strives for maximum individual growth, they each add
a single cow, believing that the addition of their cow will have no effect on the commons. In
reality, the addition of one cow by each stakeholder has significantly increased the amount of
total cows, surpassing the 20 cow carrying capacity. This eventually leads to unsustainable use
and harm to all stakeholders involved as well as the resource itself.