Title: Collective action problem | Britannica
Headings: Collective action problem
Collective action problem
The challenges of common goods
Game theory

Content: In other words, there is not a single collective action problem but a host of collective action problems that share common features. Therefore, as one would expect, there are numerous ways in which people learn to overcome the particular collective action problems they face in order to work together. The tedium of organizing a school fete is not the same as the dangers inherent in taking part in collective protest or revolution, but both are collective acts subject to free riding. Described below are the types of demand-side problems that arise in collective action and the sorts of supply-side solutions that are adopted to overcome them. It will be seen that both the problems and the solutions are interlinked and interrelated. The free-rider problem occurs wherever there is a collective good giving nonexcludability. Nonexcludability entails the free-rider problem because a person can enjoy the benefits of the good without having to pay for it (as long, of course, as the good is provided). A supply-side response is to attempt to convince would-be free riders that if they do not contribute, they will not receive the good, not through exclusion but because the good will not be provided at all. However, prior to free riding is the recognition of one’s interests. In economic theory it is usually assumed that people have well-defined preference orderings and, hence, know their own interests.