Garrett Hardin's 1968 paper "Tragedy of the Commons" argues that individuals acting in their own self-interest will ultimately deplete a shared limited resource. He uses a pasture analogy to show that while an individual benefits from adding more cattle to the pasture, it is detrimental to the common good. Hardin asserts that this problem has no technical solution and requires a fundamental change in morality. The paper discusses other examples like the prisoner's dilemma, Easter Island's deforestation, and approaches to managing shared resources through community norms, government regulations, and market mechanisms. Critics argue alternative perspectives and solutions around the concept of the tragedy of the commons.

1. Tragedy of the Commons
Kalyani Pingle
Soham Pablo Banerjee
Aditya Singal
Aditya Singh
Amit Rai
Varun Malpani

2. Brief description of Hardin’s paper
• Pasture analogy
• Overuse of finite resources
• The problem is not one of resources, but one of
population
Garrett Hardin
• Benefit reaped by individual, loss shared by
entire population
The population problem has no technical
solution; it requires a fundamental extension
in morality.
Garrett Hardin (1915-2003)
Author – Tragedy of the Commons (1968)

3. Prisoner’s Dilemma
•Ideal situation -3 1 2
•Real life tends to - 1
(About 5% respondents
opt for 3 on the first try)
4 3

4. Easter Island
- A classic tragedy
• First human inhabitations about 400 AD
• Europeans arrive in mid 1700’s to find about
2000 inhabitants
• Huge Statues
• Evidence unearthed shows a once rich
ecosystem, supportive of a much larger
Avg height- 14.5ft
Avg weight – 15 tons population of about 30,000
• Overpopulation created social problems,
Most isolated human habitation in history
leading to massive deforestation, loss of
vegetation
• Eventual Collapse

5. Solution approach to problems of ‘Commons’
 Self -Regulation through community
norms :
• Lake water in a village
• Small scale
 Government Regulations :
• Tradable instrument • High Cost & resources
• Issued by approved agencies • Difficult when independent
• Global Market place governments are regulating
 Market Mechanism (Kyoto Protocol-
Carbon offset credit)

6. Criticisms of the theory
• The Myth of tragedy of Commons.
• Where’s the evidence
• Solution to “Tragedy of Commons” :
Privatization of the commons
• The tragedy of Anti commons/ Grid
Lock Economy.
“The commons leads to overuse and
destruction; the anti commons leads to
underuse and waste”
E.g. Pharmacy Industry Patents

7. Learning/Practical applications
• Incentive to increase individual
responsibility for common benefit
• Implementation of property rights
• HDB (Singapore)
• Traffic controls
• Failure in Brazil
• Success in Singapore

8. Thank You
Quem deum vult perdere
Prius Dementat