Question

Explain “Tragedy of the Commons” by giving an example.

Answer 1

Garret Hardin in his famous article (1968) "The tragedy of commons" proposed a hypothesis that explain which common pool resources or better put open access resources are over exploited,degraded and tendency for common property to be over used.The tragedy of commons shows that common resources are totally depleted or degraded by all countries without any control or norms to preserve the quality of resources.Garret Hardin used the term tragedy of commons to denote the environmental problems in 1968.

Depletion of natural resources is the best example of tragedy of commons.Degradation of common pool resources also example of tragedy of commons.Establishment and effective enforcement of appropriate property rights would improve the quality,productivity and sustainability of environmental resources and amenities.