Tragedy of the commons is when there is a depletion of a shared resource by individuals, acting independently and rationally according to each one’s self-interest, but acting contrary to a group’s long-term best interests by depleting a common resource.
“Commons” can include the atmosphere, oceans, rivers, fish stocks, national parks, advertising, and even parking meters.
One resource that can be used to explore the topic of “commons” is the International Association for the Study of the Commons.
An example of tragedy of the commons is the overfishing in Sierra Leone. View this video to learn more about this issue.
Action Items
Milestone 1: Exploring and Selecting
Due: Week 2
Explore the topic: tragedy of commons.
Read the Special Report on Biodiversity in the Economist, (2013), 408(8853), after page 50.
All creatures great and small
Dead as the moa
What’s the use?
Amsterdam’s wild side
Where eagles dare
Hearts and minds
The long view
Trees of knowledge
Averting the sixth extinction
Select one tragedy of commons that you would like to investigate throughout this course.
Go to the discussion topic, “Selection of Tragedy of Commons”, and read the topics selected by your fellow classmates. Only one person can investigate one topic. So if your topic has already been selected, continue your research and select another topic.
Post your topic selection on the discussion topic, “Selection of Tragedy of Commons”. Note: Be specific in which location you will be researching your topic. Acceptable: Traffic congestion in Moscow. Unacceptable: Traffic congestion.
Milestone 2: Research
Weeks 3-5
Research the tragedy of commons that you selected. You will need to discuss the problem using the cost-benefit analysis framework discussed in Week 1. Review Table 1-2 on page 6 in the textbook.
Milestone 3: Paper and Presentation
Due: Week 6
Write a 2- to 3-page paper about your selected tragedy of commons. Include the following in your paper. Format the paper according the Academic Paper Guidelines. Include at a minimum at least three resources.
Definition of a tragedy of the commons problem.
Problem you have selected to discuss.
Reason why your selected problem is important.
A set of alternative projects.
Discuss from whose perspective CBA could be performed.
Define and discuss the Benefits & Costs and how each Benefit & Cost would be counted or measured.
Predict the change in Benefits & Costs as a result of implementing the solution/proposed project.
Discuss the discount benefits and costs in order to obtain the present values.
Sensitivity Analysis – discuss which assumptions should be changed since they would have the largest impact to the NPV of the project/proposed solution.
Make a recommendation and explain why it would work from an economic perspective.