What do people bring into the game : laboratory experiments about risk of depletion in real-time spatial commons.

Abstract

Concerns about environmental degradation and resource depletion have stimulated the growth of literature on common pool resources and the dilemma its users face in the last two decades. The dilemma arises when individual extraction increases well-being, but aggregate extraction decreases it. These studies have identified several factors that promote and limit collective action- the nature of the production system, attributes of users and institutional factors that govern usage. In general, there is widespread agreement that cooperation can happen and can be chosen by individuals as a rational strategy, beyond the “tragedy of the commons” prediction.