In: Economics
3. Is the tragedy of the commons solved or caused by private property? identify your meta-theory foundation
The tragedy of commons is a phenomenon that occurs in common resources such as grazing lands , fish in oceans etc . Such common resources are rival in consumption but not excludable . The part of fish that is caught by one fisherman cannot be caught by another , this is rivalry in consumption . But a non-paying fisherman cannot be stopped from fishing or no one can be prevented from catching fish . This is non excludability .
So this causes each fisherman to work for their own self interest rather than for common good . each one tries to catch as much fish as early as possible to increase their own share before the fish gets exhausted . This leads to over fishing and depletion of natural balance . This is termed as tragedy of commons .
Privatization of property actually solves this problem because we know that a private good is both rival and excludable . If fishing permit is sold to a private company who sells permits to fishermen for fishing then fishermen who are not paying for permits will not be allowed to catch fish . Also the private company will try to stay in business for long time and hence will set limits on fishermen .