Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

The benefits of the commons

Conventional wisdom holds that resources held in common will invariably be overexploited — the "tragedy of the commons". A number of examples show that this is not necessarily so.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Hardin, G. Science 162, 1243–1248 (1968).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hardin, G. & Baden, J. (eds) Managing the Commons (Freeman, San Francisco, 1977).

  3. Gordon, J. S. J. polit. Econ. 62, 124–142 (1954).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Proc. NRC Conf. Common Property Resource Management (National Academy, Washington, DC, 1986).

  5. McCay, B. J. & Acheson, J. M. (eds) The Question of the Commons: The Culture and Ecology of Communal Resources (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1987).

  6. Ostrom, V., Feeny, D. & Picht, H. (eds) Rethinking Institutional Analysis and Development (Institute for Contemporary Studies, San Francisco, 1988).

  7. Berkes, F. (ed.) Common Property Resources: Ecology and Community-Based Sustainable Development (Belhaven, London, 1989).

  8. World Commission on Environment and Development Our Common Future (Oxford University Press, 1987).

  9. Ostrom, E. in Proc. NRC Conf. Common Property Resource Management 599–615 (National Academy, Washington, DC, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bromley D. W. in Proc. NRC Conf. Common Property Resource Management 593–598 (National Academy, Washington, DC, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Bromley, D. W. Economic Interests and Institutions (Blackwell, Oxford, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Berkes, F. in Common Property Resources: Ecology and Community-Based Sustainable Development 70–78 (Belhaven, London, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Acheson, J. M. The Lobster Gangs of Maine (University Press of New England, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  14. McCay, B. J. Anthrop. Q. 53, 29–38 (1980).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. McCay, B. J. in The Question of the Commons: The Culture and Ecology of Communal Resources 195–216 (University of Arizona Press, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Feeny, D. in World Deforestation in the Twentieth Century (Duke University Press, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Thomson, J. T., Feeny, D. H. & Oakerson, R. J. in Proc. NRC Conf. Common Property Resource Management 391–424 (National Academy, Washington, DC, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Arnold, J. E. M. & Campbell, J. G. in Proc. NRC Conf. Common Property Resource Management 425–454 (National Academy, Washington DC, 1986).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Peters, P. in The Question of the Commons: The Culture and Ecology of Communal Resources 171–194 (University of Arizona Press, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Wade, R. Village Republics: Economic Conditions for Collective Action (Cambridge University Press, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Netting, R. M. Balancing on an Alp: Ecological Change and Continuity in a Swiss Mountain Community (Cambridge University Press, 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Fortmann, L. & Bruce, J. W. (eds) Whose Trees? Proprietary Dimensions of Forestry (Westview, Boulder, 1988).

  23. Maass, A. & Anderson, R. L. … and the Desert Shall Rejoice (MIT, Cambridge, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  24. Ruddle, K. & Akimichi, T. (eds) Maritime Institutions in the Western Pacific (National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, 1984).

  25. Ostrom, E. in Rethinking Institutional Analysis and Development 101–139 (Institute for Contemporary Studies, San Francisco, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Pinkerton, E. (ed) Co-operative Management of Local Fisheries (University of British Columbia Press, 1989).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Berkes, F., Feeny, D., McCay, B. et al. The benefits of the commons. Nature 340, 91–93 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/340091a0

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/340091a0

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing