I’ve also used something very similar to this. The original idea (at least for me) came from Peter Taylor’s chapter in M. Maniates ed. Encountering Global Environmental Politics. The chapter is quite good at showing both how the simulation illustrates the tragedy of the commons, and also how things other than the standard rational choice/instrumental rationality assumptions are actually in play.
One difference from David is that I don’t tell them that yields will decline as cow population increases, just that past returns are no guarantee of future performance. This has the added benefit of creating at least a brief period when some students are trying to convince the “skeptics” of what the underlying causes are, before (or while!) they try to figure out how the governance problems. I also provide a map (crudely drawn on the board) to emphasize the finite space available. Students often try to think outside this “box” by suggesting things like “let’s build a boat and go find somewhere else to live” or “let’s cut down the jungle [bordering their pastureland] to make more room.” I don’t rule these out, just set a high enough cost to build large boats or chainsaws, so that they have to pool resources to get them. I’ve also done a few different simulations related to global water politics for an undergrad class– sparked initially by Tom Princen’s chapter in that same collection. They are longer, though – requiring 2-3 weeks of class time. I’m happy to share details off list. Andrew Andrew Biro Canada Research Chair in Political Ecology and Environmental Political Theory Coordinator, Graduate Program in Social and Political Thought Dept of Political Science Acadia University Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6 (902)585-1925 [email protected] On 11/11/10 11:27 AM, "David L. Levy" <[email protected]> wrote: Here is one I use with good results to illustrate problems of collective action, usually in climate context. - adapted from somewhere else, but I developed the spreadsheet. You project it in real time in the classroom, on a screen (but wait for each round to complete)- The students just have to decide one round at a time how many cows to buy, and once they have decided, the yield per cow, and results for the year fill in (groups 7 and 8 were inactive in this round, but easy to fix that) The instructions need tweaking as well. Some student buy a lot of cows early on and become “rich” in cows and money. Others worry about the commons and stay poor…. The really interesting part is when yields start declining sharply (and you can adjust the formula for that), stop the game, and ask the students to negotiate rules. The “rich” groups quickly understand their interests and want very different rules from the poor groups. We generate ideas such as raising the price of cows, taxes, appointing a benevolent tyrant, etc. I make little suggestions, such as imposing a cost to participate in the decision making! Or one cow, one vote… Cheers David David L. Levy Professor and Chair Department of Management and Marketing Director, Center for Sustainable Enterprise <http://www.management.umb.edu/serc/> and Regional Competitiveness University of Massachusetts, Boston 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125, USA Personal home page <http://www.faculty.umb.edu/david_levy/> Climate Inc. <http://climateinc.org/> - Business and Climate Change Blog
