Rational self-interest yields collectively disastrous resource depletion

Evidence

Social dilemmas constitute a special set of interdependence problems in which individual and collective interests are at odds. The dilemma arises whenever individuals acting in their own rational self-interest would engage in behaviors that cumulatively disadvantage everyone. In the modern world, social dilemmas include problems of maintaining scarce collective resources such as water and rainforests, preserving public goods such as parks and public television, and preventing pollution and destruction of the environment. The self-interests of each individual are best served by taking advantage of the benefits of collective resources without contributing to their maintenance, but the cumulative effect of such selfinterested actions would be that everyone pays the cost of resource depletion and environmental damage. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2498

Categorization

• DEFINE: Concise formal definition of the social dilemma with the free-rider trap spelled out.
• XREF: Connects to Milgrom’s law merchant material on repeated games, free-riding, and collective action problems. — connects to: Simultaneous deleveraging by all states makes export-led growth self-defeating — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 48; Current attention-organizing logics serve financial interests and are self-destructive. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 501; Amazon deforestation is economically rational under existing incentives — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 319 (+3 more)