INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
Tragedy of the
COMM
How relevant is this today ?
NS
The tragedy of the commons is an economic principle first described by Oxford University political economist William Forster Lloyd in 1832 . Lloyd based his study on the use of common grazing land , but the principle holds for the exploitation ( and overexploitation ) of many different resources , and the tragedy is still compounding itself today .
HOW THE TRAGEDY UNFOLDS Lloyd ’ s original article outlined how , if villagers were allowed to graze their animals on communal land ( a ‘ commons ’), they would look after only their own interests , fail to consider the needs of their neighbours , and would put everyone at risk . The principle is simple . Say the commons in question can support 100 cows , and there are ten villagers , each with 10 cows . No problem . But what if one villager gets some extra cows ? Now there is not quite enough grazing to go around , and eventually the field becomes overgrazed , all the cows die , and the villagers go hungry . But before that happens , the one greedy person benefits – at the expense of the others . And the next stage of the tragedy is that one , two or more other villagers realise that the first greedy one is benefiting at their expense , so they also get extra cows , which accelerates the process of overgrazing – and exacerbates and perpetuates the problem of inequity .
St Francis Links
24