The Tragedy of the Commons, Part Two

This symposium is about the idea of free market environmentalism in general and the book Free Market Environmentalism, by Terry Anderson and Donald Leal,1 in particular. While I focus chiefly on Anderson and Leal\u27s book, the discussion will necessarily involve the general idea of free market environmentalism as well. The conceit of my tide, which obviously derives from Garrett Hardin\u27s celebrated essay on The Tragedy of the Commons,2 is this: Superficial differences aside, Hardin\u27s essay and Anderson and Leal\u27s book address the same fundamental problem of coordinating human behavior as it affects environmental quality. But both the essay and the book attack their shared concern with the same troubling kind of argument. Aiming to resolve the problem of coordination, the authors proceed instead to assume it away. As we shall see, this flaw is perhaps more apparent, and excusable, in Hardin\u27s essay than it is in Anderson and Leal\u27s book, but it can be found in the book nonetheless-as can a few other difficulties