the tragedy of the “tragedy of the commons” why coining too good a phrase can be dangerousu201c公地悲剧u201d的悲剧为什么创造了太好了一个短语可以是危险的.pdfVIP

Sustainability 2012, 4, 3141-3150; doi:10.3390/su4113141 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/sustainability Article The Tragedy of the “Tragedy of the Commons”: Why Coining Too Good a Phrase Can Be Dangerous Robert Stephen Hawkshaw 1,*, Sarah Hawkshaw 2 and U. Rashid Sumaila 2 1 Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, 1822 East Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z1, Canada 2 Fisheries Centre, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T, Canada; E-Mails: s.hawkshaw@fisheries.ubc.ca (S.H.); r.sumaila@fisheries.ubc.ca (U.R.S.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: stephen.hawkshaw@; Tel.: +1-604-822-2731; Fax: +1-604-822-8934. Received: 28 August 2012; in revised form: 30 October 2012 / Accepted: 13 November 2012 / Published: 15 November 2012 Abstract: A deep reading of Hardin (1968) reveals that he had a lot more to say about the use and regulation of resources such as fisheries than he is given credit for in the literature. It appears that he is typically cited just so that authors can use the phrase “tragedy of the commons” to invoke the specter of looming catastrophe and then tie that to whatever solution they have proposed. We argue in this contribution that there is a lot more in Hardin’s essay that either contradicts or greatly complicates the arguments he is cited as an authority for. Keywords: tragedy of the commons; fisheries economics; individual transferable quotas 1. Introduction Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” is a simple and highly eff