what is the tragedy of the commons 
a common resource or commons is any resource such as water or land that provides users with tangible benefits but which nobody has an exclusive claim the tragedy of the commons is an economic problem where the individual consumes a resource at the expense of society if an individual acts in their best interest it can result in harmful over consumption to the detriment of all this phenomenon may result in under investment and total depletion of a shared resource investopedia julie bangeconomic theorythe tragedy of the commons is an economic theory claiming that individuals tend to exploit shared resources so that demand outweighs supply and it becomes unavailable for the whole 1in 1968 evolutionary biologist garrett hardin published the tragedy of the commons in the peer reviewed journal science which addressed the growing concern of overpopulation hardin used an example of sheep grazing land taken from the early english economist william forster lloyd 2grazing lands that are held as private property are prudently used by the landholder to preserve the land and the health of the herd common grazing lands become over saturated with livestock because the food the animals consume is shared among all sheepherders hardin equated his point to humans who over consume the commonly accessible scarce resource making it harder to find 2supply and demandthe tragedy of the commons occurs when an economic good is rivalrous in consumption non excludable scarce and a common pool resource each consumer consumes as much as they can as fast as they can before others deplete the good and no one has the incentive to reinvest in maintaining or reproducing the good preventing the tragedy of the commonsinstitutional and technological factors play a role in the rivalry and excludability of a good societies have developed methods of dividing and enforcing exclusive rights to economic goods and natural resources or punishing those who over consume common resources top down government regulation or direct control of a common pool resource can reduce over consumption and government investment in the conservation and renewal of the resource can help prevent its depletion government regulation can limit how many cattle may graze on government lands or issue fish catch quotas assigning private property rights over resources to individuals can convert a common pool resource into a private good technologically it may mean developing a way to identify measure and mark units or parcels of the common pool resource into private holdings such as branding cattle william forster lloyd argued for this around the time of the english parliament s enclosure acts which stripped traditional common property arrangements to grazing lands and fields and divided the land into private holdings 2economists led by nobelist elinor ostrom touted customary arrangements among rural villagers and aristocratic lords including common access to most grazing and farmlands and managing their use and conservation 3 practices such as crop rotation seasonal grazing and enforceable sanctions against overuse and abuse of the resource meant collective action arrangements readily overcame the tragedy of the commons elinor ostrom was the first woman and one of just two women to win the nobel prize in economics 3collective action is used where technical or natural physical challenges prevent the division of a common pool resource into small private parcels by instead relying on measures to address the good s rivalry in consumption by regulating consumption 