The Tragedy of the Commons is the title of an essay written by Garrett Hardin; the essay appeared in Science in 1968. Hardin uses the commons as a metaphor for any resource that is common to all users and allows all unconstrained access to the resource. Individuals, acting in their own self interest, will maximize their use of the commons, which will eventually exhaust the commons, eliminating it as a resource for everybody.
This page last modified on 17 April 2003.