Question

Question 2 a. Define a common resource, and name one example of a common resource located in Arizona. b. Explain what problem prevents efficient use of common resources. c. List all methods for dealing with “the tragedy of the commons” that are discussed in the textbook. d. Briefly discuss one of the methods for dealing with “the tragedy of the commons.”..

Answer 1

In economic terms we define Common Resource as a resource which are rivalrous and non excludable. Rivalrous basically means if one person consumes the good it leaves lesser for the other people to use so the people become rival of each other as they all want to be benefitted with these common resources.If we talk about non excludable it means it is not possible to exclude any consumer from using it, like if we take an example of fishes in the pond they are a common resource as consuming more of it will leave lesser for others and it is not possible to exclude anybody from using it.As Arizona is a desert i think water is a common resource example we can give and water is a common resource for even all the nations.

The basic problem with the efficient use of common resource is the overuse and ineffecient usage by the people as they are not spending for its use and all act as free riders who tries to extract the maximum benefit from such goods.

They also poses negative externalities as if one person overuses the goods the other people have to face the negative effects of non availability of the goods or lesser availability or may be pollution as overuse of forests can lead to pollution for others and many other such negative externaties can result due to this.

before we discuss about methods to deal with the tragedy of commons ,we should know what exaclty it is :

Tragedy Of Commons is the term used to describe the situation in the shared resource system where indivisual users act independently according to thier own self interest and misuse the common resources by depleting or overusing the resources through thier collective action and self interest.

now we will talk about what methods can be adopted to deal with the problem of tragedy of commons:

1) Giving property rights and controlling access to such resources.As if some people will take the responsibilty of taking care of these resources it can improve the situation to some extent.

2) Giving licences to the people who can control and use these resources. this can control the overuse and inefficient utilisation to some extent.

3) Imposing taxes to these common resources so that to some extent mentainence of such resources can be done.