06: The Tragedy of the Commons

“In any case, were I to invoke logic, logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
Spock, performed by Leonard Nimoy

Quidditch is a team sport, and we are all put in something and take out something from this community. The question is, are we all putting in as much as we take out? What happens when people take out much more than they put in? There is a term for this, and in fact entire fields of science including economics and environmental science, and it’s called the Tragedy of the Commons.

Quidditch refereeing is a classic example of the tragedy of the commons, and it represents one of the greatest existential threats to the quidditch community as a whole. In this episode I discuss what these problems are and what we can do to mitigate them.

Tragedy of the commons: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/162/3859/1243 and https://www.dummies.com/education/science/environmental-science/ten-real-life-examples-of-the-tragedy-of-the-commons/

Elinor Ostrom: https://wle.cgiar.org/news/elinor-ostrom-%E2%80%9Cnon-tragedy-commons%E2%80%9D

Social psychology of cheating: https://academic.oup.com/jeea/article/11/3/525/2300098

Drill of the Week: Assistant referee training on beating drill

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