What is "The Tragedy of the Commons"?

Description

"The Tragedy of the Commons" was an article written by Garrett Hardin in 1968. He argued that free access and unrestricted demand for a finite resource ultimately dooms the resource through over-exploitation. One simple example illustrates this concept. For herders shaing a common parcel of land, on which they are each entitled to let their cows gaze, it is common interest to put the next cows onto the land. The herder receives all of the benefits from an additional cow, while the damage to the comons is shared by the entire group. If all herders make this individually rational economic decision, the commons will be destroyed to the detriment of all.

Hardin notes the limits placed on the availability of energy on Earth, and also the consequences of these limits for quality of life. To maximize population, one needs to minimize resources spent on anything other than simple survival, and vice versa.