The Tragedy of the

Commons
Garette Hardin


Vijay Rajmohan,
Amrita School of Business
13.06.2014


Freedom in a commons bring ruin to all
- Hardin
The Article
O Authored by Garette Hardin, Ecologist.
O Appeared in Science in 1968.
O Revisited in 1978.
O Extended in 1998.
Significance
Ian Angus, 2008:

the dominant paradigm within which social
scientists assess natural resource issues.
(Bromley and Cernea, 1989)

O One of the most reprinted article of a
Science journal.
O Anthologized in more than 111 books.


Imacts..
Hardin, 1998: ecology, environmentalism,
health care, economics, population studies,
law, political science, philosophy, ethics,
geography, psychology, and sociology.
Significance..
As on 13.06.2014:

O Google search throws up 62,60,000
results.
O Cited by 23,847.


Garette Hardin
O Garette James Hardin was Professor of
Human Ecology at University of California.
O Committed suicide with his wife at the age
of 88 in 2003 at California.
Pic Source: Wikipedia
The Article
O Article talks about population problem.
O Analyzed the relationship of population to
resources, their dynamics and suggested
solution.
O Commons common grazing pastures in
UK.
O Rational choice by individuals leads to
exploitation and depletion of commons.

The Article..
O Uncontrolled freedom over commons
would lead to ruin, detrimental to all.
O Restrain, control, take out of commons.
O mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon
O Sacrifice freedom to gain freedom.
O Sacrifice some well being for overall well
being.
O Intervention is necessary.
O Dont depend on conscience for
regulation.


1998..
O commons to unmanaged commons
O Justification you already are in the
mutually agreed, mutually coercion
paradigm.
O Brushing aside criticism.
O Reiteration of the original proposition.
Pic Source: Sciencemag.org
Criticisms
Elinor Ostrom:

it is possible for humans to break out of the logic of
the commons and to restructure the situation itself.
Thus, it is important for policy analysts to recognize
the difference between assuming a set of givens
during an analysis and presuming these givens are
really unchangeable. We have also observed that
there may not be "one best way" of organizing for the
management of natural resource systems. At least we
are now aware of several systems which work quite
well without being either pure market or pure central
control systems.
Criticisms..
Ian Angus, 2008 :

It has been used time and again to justify stealing
indigenous peoples lands, privatizing health care and
other social services, giving corporations tradable
permits to pollute the air and water, and much more.


Criticisms..
O Historically inaccurate.
O Factors like culture, religious belief,
education, geography are not taken into
account.
O Example of Chinas one child policy.
O Racism, Anti-immigrant attitude.
Questions..
O What is balance?
better way to live in balance (Hardin,1998)
or
authoritative interventions destroy inherent
balance (in the long run)?


Questions - International
context
O Chinas one child policy effective in the
short run, ineffective in the long run?
O Problem of policy makers away from the
reality or losing far sightedness
information asymmetry.
O Can it be extended to agricultural
subsidies by various Governments?
O Can it be extended to export incentives/
subsidies by various Governments?
Questions - Indian context
O River water rights of the States disputes,
Cauvery, anxiety of Seemandhra.
O Freebies by the States - competitive negative
commons?
O Maturity, education, change in culture ,
loosening of casteism, religious control - birth
control propaganda/ incentives by
Government to self control by couples.
O 45 days fishing ban by Govt. of Tamilnadu.
O Fishermen problem with Sri Lanka.
Thank You!