Named by Garrett Hardin (The Tragedy of the Commons, 1968) from the overgrazing example of William Forster Lloyd (1833), and qualified by Elinor Ostrom (Governing the Commons, 1990).
Explains how open access to a shared, limited resource leads each user to take more, since each gains fully while the cost is spread, until the resource degrades.
When to reach for it
A shared resource such as meeting time, executive attention, or a shared service being used up, where blaming the users has not helped.
How it runs
- Name the resource being depleted.
- List who has access and on what terms.
- Map who gains from each extra use and who bears the cost.
- Check what rules, norms, or limits already exist.
- Choose a remedy: limits, quotas, community rules, pricing, or metering.
- Pilot it locally and keep monitoring.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Two Lectures on the Checks to Population, 1833
- The Tragedy of the Commons, Science, 1968
- Governing the Commons, Cambridge University Press, 1990