The tragedy of the commons refers to a situation in which everyone would be better off if they would cooperate but they don't cooperate because individuals can always do better by cheating the others; since everyone knows that others will cheat them if they get the chance, agreements are never made.
What does this have to do with the Gallery? Well, there was a pretty big crowd around Van Gogh's "Sunflowers." In the abstract, it looked like this (people are o's and the painting is x):
-------x-------
-----o-o-o-----
----o-o-o-o----
Here, only 3 people can enjoy the painting. If only those front 3 would move out of the way, then 4 people could enjoy the painting. But what happens when the front 3 leave? People from the second row move forward (one of them out of luck) and, once again, only 3 people can enjoy the painting! The funny thing is that even the lucky 3 who make it to the front row lose out--they would probably enjoy the painting more if they weren't so darn close. But if they don't grab one of the close spots, someone will jump in front of them and they won't be able to see it at all!
So how can you improve this situation? The two ready solutions are to introduce a market of sorts or to have a benevolent dictator force individuals to do what's best for everyone. Coase theorem (the free market solution) would have the property rights to the space assigned to someone who would rent the space to those who value it the most. Of course, this is downright silly since it would be incredibly costly for an individual to manage all the customers who only want to see it for a short time. Instead, the gallery (benevolent dictator) should rope more area to force people further from the painting. It's so easy, isn't it?
2 comments:
I must say I was really irritated with how people acted in the gallery. I would have though people would be polite and not try to squeeze in front of you, but they did! I really wanted to get the full impression of Monet's work by looking at it from close and afar and was sadly unable to do so. The people in the gallery were only out for their "best interest" which really wasn't the best for them in the end as everyone began jockying for a position. Hasn't anyone been to grade school and learned how to share?
I guess if one really wanted to see a particular painting bad enough and had the time, one could get to the gallery just as it opens and go straight to the painting for a good long look! Must create a list beforehand! :)
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