Tragedy of the commons

Overuse of a shared resource

The tragedy of the commons is the idea that when a resource is shared and can benefit the individual at a cost to the community, it is rational for the individual to overuse the resource, even though this collectively leads to the depletion of the resource for everyone. The concept has been widely discussed and criticized in economics, ecology, and other sciences. The metaphorical term is the title of a 1968 essay by ecologist Garrett Hardin.

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