However if a given commons is more complicated than a grass pasture, like the banking system for instance, and the individual pursuit of profit degrades the quality of the whole system, then eventually you're gonna have a big crash because self-interest is god. Ooops! Looks like it happened.
John On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 1:47 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > > [Craig, previously] > > Adam Smith argues that society prospers more by each > > pursuing their self-interest (“invisible hand”). > > [John] > > > But the thought experiment "tragedy of the commons" refutes Adam > > Smith. > > > > > > Actually the "tragedy of the commons" SUPPORTS Adam Smith. > If you have land & divide it among 4 ranchers, each rancher will > balance his number of grazing cows with the amount of feed that grows > > in his sector. It is in the self-interest of each rancher not to let > his cows consume all the feed before it can replenish, > since then his cows would starve. > However, if the land is held in common, each rancher is not so constrained, > because after his cows demolish 1/4 the feed, they invade the next 1/4, > then the next… Craig > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
