Economics and the Commons: History, Tragedies, and Some Exercises

Abstract

Economic science has traditionally neglected the topic of commons mainly due to its individualist methodological framework. Commons are goods (such as the environment or the condominium staircase) consumed simultaneously by several people and where one person’s consumption reduces the consumption of another. When commons are present, the so-called “tragedy of the commons,” highlighted by biologist Hardin in 1968, could occur. The article is a brief history of the idea of commons in economics and proposes some hypotheses for solving the commons problem.