the tragedy the tragedy of the of the

commons.commons. lisa stefany and ben jacobs.

the invisible hand. •Adam Smith.

•The Wealth of Nations – 1776.

•“the invisible hand.” •"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."

the tragedy.

•William Forster Lloyd – 1833.

•Two Lectures on the Checks to Population

•Medieval village land.•Dispute the “invisible hand” theory.

the tragedy continues.

•Garrett Hardin.•“The Tragedy of the Commons” – 1968.

•The cattle-owners’ predicament.

negative externality. •Occurs when the consumption or production of a good causes a harmful effect to a third party…•aka when private and social interests are not consistent with each other private costs and benefits vs. social costs and benefits.

•Social = internal + external. •Industry example.

a solution?

•Economist privatize, privatize, privatize. •How do we privatize the oceans…or the ozone layer?

•Hardin TINTS.•“No technical solution can rescue us from the misery of overpopulation. Freedom to breed will bring ruin to all. At the moment, to avoid hard decisions many of us are tempted to propagandize for conscience and responsible parenthood. The temptation must be resisted, because an appeal to independently acting consciences selects for the disappearance of all conscience in the long run, and an increase in anxiety in the short.”•“The only way we can preserve and nurture other and more precious freedoms is by relinquishing the freedom to breed, and that very soon. "Freedom is the recognition of necessity"--and it is the role of education to reveal to all the necessity of abandoning the freedom to breed. Only so, can we put an end to this aspect of the tragedy of the commons.”

spaceship earth vs. lifeboat ethics.•Henry George’s Spaceship Earth metaphor.

•Progress and Poverty – 1879.

•Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics” – 1974.

•Swimmers = poor nations; lifeboats = rich nations.

•Spaceship Earth – poor nations become dependent and rich nations will exhaust their resources gradual deterioration of the environment aka Tragedy of the Commons.

environmentalists and economists unite?•Nicholas Stern – British

economist. •Published The Stern Review for British government – October 30, 2006.

•Effect of climate change on economy.

the tragedy of the commons – penn state style.

Current Examples of Tragedies

• Burning of fossil fuels/ ozone depletion

• Over fishing in Grand Banks of Newfoundland

• Uncontrolled human population growth

Solutions to Modern

Tragedies• Government Regulation (Permit Systems)

• Privatizing Common Goods

"Causes of Global Warming." EcoBridge. 1 Apr. 2008 <http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_cse.htm>.

De Young, R. "Tragedy of the Commons." University of Michigan. 1999. U. of Michigan. 1 Apr. 2008 <http://wwwpersonal.umich.edu/~rdeyoung/ tragedy. html>.

"Global Climate Change and Energy." Schlumberger. 2008. 1 Apr. 2008 <http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/climate_change/

tragedy.htm>.

Hardin, Garrett. "The Tragedy of the Commons." Die Off. 1968. 23 Feb. 2008 <http://dieoff.org/page95.htm>.

Joyce, Helen. "Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand." Plus Magazine. Mar. 2001. 23 Feb. 2008 <http://plus.maths.org/issue14/features/smith/>.

Stairs, Allen. "Garrett Hardin: Lifeboat Ethics." Philosophy 140. 1997. 23 Feb. 2008 <http://stairs.umd.edu/140/hardin.html>.

"The Economics of Climate Change." Cambridge. 2008. 1 Apr. 2008 <http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?

isbn=9780521700801>.

"Tragedy of the Commons and Lifeboat Ethics." Environmental Geoscience I. Boston College. 23 Feb. 2008

<http://www2.bc.edu/~hepburnj/ge167/ handout2.html>.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography (ctd.)• McCarthy, Michael. “Fishing Industry Falls Victim to

Tragedy of the Commons.” Common Dreams.org. 24 October 2002.

• Outhouse, Steve. “Renewing The Newfoundland and Labrador Fishing Industry.” Office of the Mister

of fisheries and Oveans of Canada. 12 April 2007.< http://www.dfo-

mpo.gc.ca/media/newsrel/2007/nl-tnl12_e.htm >• Horsley, Scott. "NPR:2008 Election Issues." NPR. 30

Jan. 2008. <http://www.npr.org/news/specials/election2008/issues/climate.html>.