POL 203 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Private Good, Excludability, Barter
17 Nov 2014
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Pol203 - politics of the environment - lecture 3: tragedy of commons. Demands to access these resources continue to steadily increase via the new standard of living and population growth. A tragedy of commons occurs when increasing demands exceed the capacity of a resource. Sometimes individuals are rational with resources but they lead to irrational outcomes. A resource might be shared and therefore not entirely equitable. Individuals often act within their own self interests, as rational as they might seem. Benefits are accrued to individuals while the costs of the resource is shared by everyone. Commons is a type of good that shares the issue of individual intervention. Commons is a resource often used by individuals but exercised on a larger scale. There are different characteristics that define a commons. Excludability: when a resource is barred from people who do not contribute for using it (i. e. payment and labor).
