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The Tragedy of the

CommonsGarette Hardin

Vijay Rajmohan,

Amrita School of Business

13.06.2014

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Freedom in a commons bring ruin to all

- Hardin

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The Article

O Authored by Garette Hardin, Ecologist.

O Appeared in Science in 1968.O Revisited in 1978.

O Extended in 1998.

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SignificanceIan 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.

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Imacts..

Hardin, 1998: ecology, environmentalism,health care, economics, population studies,

law, political science, philosophy, ethics,

geography, psychology, and sociology.

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Significance..

As on 13.06.2014:

O Google search throws up 62,60,000

results.

O Cited by 23,847.

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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

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The ArticleO Article talks about population problem.

O Analyzed the relationship of population to

resources, their dynamics and suggestedsolution.

O Commonscommon grazing pastures in

UK.

O Rational choice by individuals leads toexploitation and depletion of commons.

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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 wellbeing.

O Intervention is necessary.

O Dont depend on conscience forregulation.

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1998..O commons to unmanaged commons

O Justificationyou already are in the

mutually agreed, mutually coercionparadigm.

O Brushing aside criticism.

O Reiteration of the original proposition.

Pic Source: Sciencemag.org

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CriticismsElinor 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.

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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.

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Criticisms..O Historically inaccurate.

O Factors like culture, religious belief,

education, geography are not taken intoaccount.

O Example of Chinas one child policy.

O Racism, Anti-immigrant attitude.

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Questions..O What is balance?

better way to live in balance (Hardin,1998)

orauthoritative interventions destroy inherent

balance (in the long run)?

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Questions - International

contextO Chinas one child policy effective in the

short run, ineffective in the long run?

O Problem of policy makers away from thereality 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?

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Questions - Indian contextO River water rights of the Statesdisputes,

Cauvery, anxiety of Seemandhra.

O Freebies by the States - competitive negative

commons?O Maturity, education, change in culture ,

loosening of casteism, religious control - birthcontrol propaganda/ incentives byGovernment to self control by couples.

O 45 days fishing ban by Govt. of Tamilnadu.

O Fishermen problem with Sri Lanka.

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Thank You!