phenomenon is known as the resource curse. Comedy of the commons In certain cases, exploiting a resource more may be a good thing. Carol M. Rose, in a 1986 article, discussed the concept of the "comedy of the commons", where the public property in question exhibits "increasing returns to scale" in usage (hence the phrase, "the more the merrier"), in that the more people use the resource, the higher the benefit to each one. Rose cites as examples commerce and group recreational activities. According to Rose, public resources with the "comedic" characteristic may suffer from under-investment rather than over usage. A modern example presented by Garrett Richards in environmental studies is that the issue of excessive carbon emissions can be tackled effectively only when the efforts are directly addressing the issues along with the collective efforts from the world economies. Collective funding and shared solutions across nations could help identify technologies that can solve carbon emission issues. Additionally, the more that nations are willing to collaborate and contribute resources, the higher the chances are for successful technological developments. See also Related concepts , depriving commoners of their ancient rights References Notes Bibliography Angus, I. (2008). "The myth of the tragedy of the commons", Socialist Voice (August 24). Foddy, M., Smithson, M., Schneider, S., and Hogg, M. (1999). Resolving social dilemmas. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press. External links The Digital Library of the Commons The Myth of the Tragedy of the Commons by Ian Angus "Global Tragedy of the Commons" by John Hickman and Sarah Bartlett "Tragedy of the Commons Explained with Smurfs" by Ryan Somma Public vs. Private Goods & Tragedy of the Commons On averting the Tragedy of the Commons 1968 introductions Economic inequality Environmental economics Environmental social science concepts Game theory Land use Market failure Metaphors Public commons