I wouldn’t want to be so absolute and say there is no such thing as the tragedy of the commons, but I am saying that I think it’s vastly overblown, and that in most cases when it’s invoked, it isn’t actually present.
You’re right about that: Many people use the spectre of the tragedy of the commons ad nauseum to sound clever and insulate their own ideological attachments to property rights and private ownership. Usually, when there’s a commons, some sturdy, democratic, responsive trustee entity or market can take care of problems of overuse.
I wouldn’t want to be so absolute and say there is no such thing as the tragedy of the commons, but I am saying that I think it’s vastly overblown, and that in most cases when it’s invoked, it isn’t actually present.
You’re right about that: Many people use the spectre of the tragedy of the commons ad nauseum to sound clever and insulate their own ideological attachments to property rights and private ownership. Usually, when there’s a commons, some sturdy, democratic, responsive trustee entity or market can take care of problems of overuse.