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MENTAL MODEL · M0443

Tragedy of the Anticommons

Tragedy of the Anticommons
BusinessHigh supportEconomics
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28

CORE DEFINITION

The tragedy of the anticommons, proposed by American professor Heller in 1998, refers to a situation where resources that should be publicly owned are not fully utilized by society due to fragmentation and privatization of property rights. It is a derivative term from the tragedy of the commons. Contrary to the problem of overuse in the tragedy of the commons, the tragedy of the anticommons arises when there are many rights holders who impede each other's use of resources, leading to underutilization or even idleness, causing losses to social welfare. Both are problems arising from the failure to properly handle the relationship between private and public property rights.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

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The tragedy of the anticommons, proposed by American professor Heller in 1998, refers to a situation where resources that should be publicly owned are not fully utilized by society due to fragmentation and privatization of property rights. It is a derivative term from the tragedy of the commons. Contrary to the problem of overuse in the tragedy of the commons, the tragedy of the anticommons arises when there are many rights holders who impede each other's use of resources, leading to underutilization or even idleness, causing losses to social welfare.

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Heller proposed that when too many rights holders each hold exclusive rights and no one can use the resource alone, the resource becomes excessively idle and unusable, in contrast to the tragedy of the commons (overuse).

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Source support: Explicit

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    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%8D%E5%85%AC%E5%9C%B0%E6%82%B2%E5%89%A7ZH · Explicit
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