Home The Tragedy of the Uncommons
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

The Tragedy of the Uncommons

  • Matthew Brown EMAIL logo and Brianna Cardiff-Hicks EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: April 22, 2017
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

We develop and discuss a new institutional concept, “the tragedy of the uncommons,” to describe the inefficient use of resources that are both non-substitutable and transitory. This situation is not captured by the tragedy of the commons/anti-commons literature or other theories. We highlight the crucial and under-appreciated assumptions about value over time of the tragedy of the commons and anticommons. We also introduce the concepts of “under” and “over-ownership” to the bundle of rights theory of property clarifying weaknesses in the literature to help better understand how institutions can yield efficient resource preservation.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge helpful comments from Bruce Benson, Steven Callander, and participants at the Association for Private Enterprise Education Annual Conference. All remaining errors are their own.

References

Anderson, T.L., and P. Hill. 1975. “The Evolution of Property Rights: A Study of the American West,” 18(1) Journal of Law and Economics 163–179.10.1086/466809Search in Google Scholar

Anderson, T.L., and P. Hill. 1990. “The Race for Property Rights,” 33(1) Journal of Law and Economics 177–197.10.1086/467203Search in Google Scholar

Anderson, T.L., and P. Hill. 2004. The Not so Wild, Wild West: Property Rights on the Frontier. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.10.1515/9781503624306Search in Google Scholar

Andreoni, J. 1995. “Cooperation in Public-Goods Experiments: Kindness or Confusion?,” 85(4) American Economic Review 891–904.Search in Google Scholar

Barzel, Y. 1997. Economic Analysis of Property Rights. New York: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511609398Search in Google Scholar

Bergstrom, T., L. Blume, and H. Varian. 1986. “On the Private Provision of Public Goods,” 29 Journal of Public Economics 25–49.10.1016/0047-2727(86)90024-1Search in Google Scholar

Brown, M. 2004. “Can the past and the Future Coexist?,” 8(3) The Independent Review 493–444.Search in Google Scholar

Buchanan, J., and Y. Yoon. 2000. ““Symmetric Tragedies: Commons and Anticommons,” 43(1) Journal of Law and Economics 1–13.10.1086/467445Search in Google Scholar

Cheung, S. 1970. “The Structure of a Contract and the Theory of a Non-Exclusive Resource,” 13(1) Journal of Law and Economics 49–70.10.1086/466683Search in Google Scholar

Coase, R. 1960. “The Problem of Social Cost,” 3 Journal of Law and Economics 1–44.10.1086/466560Search in Google Scholar

Commons, J. 1893. The Distribution of Wealth, Vol. 3. New York and London: Macmillan and Company.Search in Google Scholar

Epstein, R.A. 2011. “Bundle-Of-Rights Theory as a Bulwark against Statist Conceptions of Private Property,” 8(3) Econ Journal Watch 223–235.Search in Google Scholar

Gordon, H. 1954. “The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery,” 62(2) Journal of Political Economy 124–142.10.1086/257497Search in Google Scholar

Haddock, D.D. 2007. “Why Individuals Provide Public Goods,” in: T.L. Anderson, L.E. Huggins and T.M. Power, eds., Accounting for Mother Nature: Changing Demands for Her Bounty, Chap. 12. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 261–287.10.1515/9781503626751-014Search in Google Scholar

Hardin, G. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons,” 162 Science 1243–1248.10.1126/science.162.3859.1243Search in Google Scholar

Heller, M. 1997. “The Tragedy of the Anticommons: Property in the Transition from Marx to Markets,” 111 Harvard Law Review 621.10.2307/1342203Search in Google Scholar

Honore, A. 1961. “Ownership,” 107 Oxford Essays in Jurisprudence 107–128.Search in Google Scholar

Joffe, A. 2011. “Egypt’s Antiquities Fall Victim to the Mob,” https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703833204576114580200904212. The Wall Street Journal.Search in Google Scholar

Knight, F. 1924. “Some Fallacies in the Interpretation of Social Cost,” 38(4) The Quarterly Journal of Economics 582–606.10.2307/1884592Search in Google Scholar

Leeson, P.T. 2007. “Trading with Bandits,” 50(2) Journal of Law and Economics 303–321.10.1086/511320Search in Google Scholar

Leeson, P.T. 2012. “Ordeals,” 55(3) Journal of Law and Economics 691–714.10.1086/664010Search in Google Scholar

Marx, L.M., and S.A. Matthews. 2000. “Dynamic Voluntary Contribution to a Public Project,” 67 Review of Economic Studies 327–358.10.1111/1467-937X.00134Search in Google Scholar

Old Fort Niagara website (2014): “History of Old Fort Niagara,” https://oldfortniagara.org/history.Search in Google Scholar

Ostrom, E. 1990. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. New York: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511807763Search in Google Scholar

Paleontological Society (2013): “Code of Fossil Collecting,” www.apleosoc.org/pscode.htm.Search in Google Scholar

Pigou, A. 1920. Economics of Welfare. London: Macmillan and Company.Search in Google Scholar

Rocca, F.X. 2011. “While Pompeii Crumbles,” https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203731004576045682036807802. The Wall Street Journal.Search in Google Scholar

Scott, A. 1955. “The Fishery: The Objectives of Sole Ownership,” 63(2) Journal of Political Economy 116–124.10.1086/257653Search in Google Scholar

Stroup, R. 2003. Eco-Nomics: What Everyone Should Know about Economics and the Environment. Washington, DC: Cato Institute.Search in Google Scholar

Stroup, R., and M. Brown. 2000. “Selling Artifacts,” 23(4) Regulation 4–6.Search in Google Scholar

Tullock, G. 1971. “Public Decisions as Public Goods,” 79(4) Journal of Political Economy 913–918.10.1086/259799Search in Google Scholar

Varian, H. 1990. Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach, New York: 2nd ed. W. W. Norton & Company.Search in Google Scholar

Webster, D. 2009. “Dinosaur Wars: Who Owns America’s Fossils?,” 40(1) The Smithsonian 48–57.Search in Google Scholar

Yandle, B. 1997. Common Sense and Common Law for the Environment: Creating Wealth in Hummingbird Economies. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2017-04-22

© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 20.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/rle-2016-0011/html
Scroll to top button