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A Counter Example to the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’
Running late — have a dissertation proposal defense to get to, then a final to give to my Ph.D. students — so a quick
one:
A Counter Example to the “Tragedy of the Commons”, by Matthew Kahn: …This
OP-ED by Andrew Kahrl is actually quite interesting. … For at least 20
years, I have lectured on the “tragedy of the commons” that takes place both in
cities and in the oceans. Consider a smoker in a city…[numerical example]. This is a simple example of the tragedy of the commons —
this smoker unintentionally degraded the commons as he pursued his privately
optimal action. The same logic applies to over-fishing in common oceans. One
“solution” to this property rights issue is to privatize the commons and the
owner would charge a price to allow the smoker to smoke and the smoker would
only smoke if he is willing to pay this fee.We can now evaluate Professor Kahrl's claims. He argues that the privatization
of beaches in the Northeast is the reason that Hurricane Sandy caused so much
damage.He writes; “By increasing the value of shoreline property and encouraging
rampant development, the trend toward privatizing formerly public space has
contributed in no small measure to the damage storms like Hurricane Sandy
inflict. Tidal lands that soaked up floodwaters were drained and developed.
Jetties, bulkheads and sea walls were erected, hastening erosion. And sand dunes
— which
block
rising waters but also profitable ocean views —
were bulldozed.” …
Kahrl is saying that capitalism and the pursuit of
aesthetic beauty nudged us to drop our guard and destroy Mother Nature's coastal
defense system. …. For this claim to be true, he must assume that the tragedy of
the commons would not have degraded such natural capital. This may be true.Mother Nature is now engaging in a takings as she tries to seize coastal
property from incumbent owners. I say let her win. These place based
stakeholders want to use your tax dollars as funds to build a wall around them.
A compromise would be for the state government to buy these properties and
knock them down and revitalize the natural capital adaptation strategies that
the author lists. …
2012-12-05 15:20:27
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