Tragedy of Commons
Tragedy of Commons is a concept rooted in economics which claims that - In a shared-resource system where individual users act independently according to their own self-interest, they will behave contrary to the common good of all users by depleting or spoiling the shared resource through their collective action in the long term.
This is a social dilemma where people’s short-term selfish interests is at odds with long-term interests of the group and the common good.
Fish & Greed
Imagine a common fish pond with 10 fishes used by 5 fishermen.
Every 2 fishes in the pond reproduce 1 fish, everyday.
So at the beginning of the next day, the pond has 15 fishes.
The ideal fishing pattern here should be for the 5 fishermen to take 1 fish each everyday, so that there are 10 remaining to replenish the population for tomorrow.
But here the fisherman is incentivised to take more fishes since the loss of not being able to replenish fishes in the pond is absorbed by the group instead of the individual fisherman.
So let’s say he takes 2 everyday.
If one fisherman does it, the situation will play out like this.
Day 1 = 15 fishes (10+5)
Day 2 = 13 fishes (9+4)
Day 3 = 10 fishes (7+3)
Day 4 = 6 fishes( 4+2)
Day 5 = 0 fishes
So in 5 days, the entire pond is no longer useful.
However, if that one fisherman had acted in the interest of the common good by taking just 1 fish everyday, the pond would have lasted forever.
The depletion would have been even faster if all of them decided to act in their own interest.
Day 1 = 15 fishes
Day 2 = 7 fishes
Day 3 = 0 fishes
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Countering the Tragedy of Commons
There are strategic, structural and motivational factors that contribute to this behaviour.
Strategic Factor
Strategically speaking in the above example - On day 1, the first person who comes to fish will see that him taking 2 fishes out of 15 doesn’t make a big dent on the overall number.
However, when the 5th fisherman gets to the pond, he can see that his taking 2 out of the 7 remaining fishes is detrimental to their population.
A good way to counter this would be to make all fishermen fish at the same time where they can clearly see the scale of damage they are causing collectively to the common pond by overfishing. This might deter them from doing it.
Motivational Factor
Reputation also plays a role in TOC scenarios, research shows that people tend to exploit more in anonymous situations than in public ones. In society people who act against the common good are looked down upon and this can act as a deterrent.
Sequentially speaking, the person who goes right after the first fisherman will know that he took 2 fishes. But the third person might not have an accurate view of the fishing pattern. Did fishermen 1 and 2 take 2 each? Or did one of them take 3 and the other took 1? This ambiguity makes it harder to crack down on the perpetrators.
In the above example, if the other fishermen knew that the first one took 2 fishes instead of 1, they could reprimand him and bring down his social status in the group.
This might make others wary of over-fishing.
Structural Factor
In the above example, when all the fishermen are on equal grounds, it is hard to bring regulation that will stop common resource exploitation. A leader or regulator among the 5 fishermen can bring common good to the forefront ahead of individual incentives.
When there is a democratically elected leader or regulator, his words are likely to be taken more seriously since he has the endorsement of the majority of the population and has to act in the interest of the common good.
In addition to regulation, the idea of punishment (for overfishing) and rewards (recommended fishing levels) for the fisherman can also help keep the pond thriving.
Less Daughters, More Sons
The preference for sons in certain parts of the world has led to an imbalance in the male to female ratio. In 2019, the sex ratio of the total population in China ranged at approximately 104.5 males to 100 females.
While people were incentivised to have sons instead of daughters in the short-term, the consequences of rampant selective gender abortion and female infanticide is now affecting the social structure of the country adversely.
The tragedy of commons applied to other aspects of life ranging from antibiotics giving rise to antibiotics resistant bacteria, email spam problem, vandalism to hoarding.
Application to Workplace
While the tragedy of commons is present in more or less any shared unregulated resource, it is very relevant in the workplace.
For example, if there is a group that is held responsible for a task instead of having individual stakeholders, then individual members have little motivation to give it their best. And since the loss/blame is taken by the group, the perceived damage to the individual feels marginal.
This task would have been much better accomplished if:
There was someone who took the responsibility to get it done.
There was a way to know how much each member is contributing.
There was an incentive for people to give it their best.
The consequences of not finishing the task on the individual is communicated to each member of the group effectively.
So that was about the Tragedy of Commons. What are your thoughts on this? Let me know by replying to this email.
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Thanks for reading & keep it rational.