Tragedy of the Commons

In the past year, Fermion experienced a population boom. With Fermion reunited, peasantry outlawed, and the kingdom's prosperity, citizens from all classes decided to now was the best time to expand their families.

People, especially commoners, had more than ever before in Fermion's history.

After paying their bills and investing in their savings, most people commoners, skilled labor, and nobles spent widely.

Life was good! Why not eat or spend to excess?

Even with the lower cost of goods, Will's former 5&10 copper discount stores were still popular.

Between the traditional general and discount stores, goods flew off the shelves.

This was a golden age for crafters as they had enough money to be selective with their clientele and experiment to increase their skills.

But the linchpin was trade. Without the logistics and infrastructure Will built, this would never have happened. Stores, crafters, farmers, and merchants depended on Will's fast turnaround.

The days of waiting a week or two weeks for a good to be restocked we're over.

People could trust general store shelves to be restocked in days not weeks. Even in North Fermion, goods arrived weekly from Durres and Tirana.

With the daily newspaper and weekly airships, Fermion was being flattened. Nowadays, people remarked how Fermion felt more like a large city, than a massive kingdom. For example, it was common to hear people remark how Gadreel felt more like a suburb of Tirana than a separate city.

Yet, good times never last. As hard as Will tried, inflation was on the rise. As Deputy Minister, and owner of the largest bank, he did his best to slow inflation.

But another more serious issue appeared. With a rise in discretionary spending, came overconsumption, which strained Fermion's natural resources.

Yesterday evening, after returning home from the office in Tirana, Micheal informed him Kurosawa was waiting to see him.

"Greeting my lord," said Kurosawa bowing.

"When shall you stop with such formalities, Kurosawa? How long have known each other? How close have we grown? Drop the honorifics," Will said pouring two glasses of whiskey and handing one to Kurosawa.

"My lord, the Forestry Department reports there's been a growing rash of illegal logging," Kurosawa said afterward taking a sip of whiskey.

"Has Forestry reached out to the elves for help?" Will inquired.

"Yes, but we arrest them, but that only drives them deeper into the Forrest," Kurosawa explained.

"Could we offer them jobs in the Forestry?" asked Will.

"We've caught our own Forrest Rangers maybe involved as well," Kurosawa said.

"Remind me the average price for lumber?" Will asked closing his eyes and laying back in his chair.

Kurosawa read off a sheet that listed the different log prices for different trees based on trunk length and quality.

Will closed his eyes to hide his surprise. A four-meter oak tree sold for 60 coppers. A four-meter Poplar or Maple tree sold for 45 coppers. Taller trees sold for more.

"Who buys the illegal logs?" Will asked curiously.

"Sawmills in Korce and villages outside valley. My lord aren't you asking too much of the Forestry Department. The valley was large and very wooded. Might illegally logging work in our favor?" Kurosawa wondered.

"No! The forest provides too many economic resources. If what you say is true, then people are stealing thousands of coppers!

Tomorrow triple our logging export. Let's flood the market with our sustainable legal timber. While you're doing that, double size for the number of Forestry Rangers," Will said angrily.

Will learned from Earth's mistake. Before he died, he knew many of Earth's natural resources were depleted and there was a shift in the world's climate.

Will was no eco-justice warrior. In reality, he detested those eco-justice nutcases. But he agreed protecting natural resources made economic sense.

To deplete a revenue source made no economic sense. While Will never owned a logging company, water, or energy companies, he did invest in them and served on a few boards.

The next morning, Will announced crafters who purchased illegal timber would be fined, sawmills who accepted illegal logs could be sued, and a substantial reward for people to turn in illegal loggers, sawmill operators, and crafters.

With crafters and sawmill put on notice, illegal logging around Gadreel slowed down, at least for the time being. Criminals were always more innovative, and a step ahead, then the government.

But illegal logging was only the first of many problems caused by overconsumption. Sitting on his desk in the morning, was a report from the Fisherman Guild about decreased deep water and river fish.

It has long been suspected the kingdom's fishing stocks were mysterious disappearing.

The population boom was straining the ecology.

Ecological were not uncommon problems. People inadvertently destroying the environmental resources on which their societies depended, was an interplanetary human habit.

Sad to say on Earth, the processes through which past societies have undermined themselves by damaging their environments fall into five categories: deforestation, soil erosion, a decline of potable, overhunting, and overfishing.

Fermion's population growth caused a shortage in the market. To keep up with demand, supplier overfished, overhunted, cut down trees to make grazing room for beef cattle and sheep, and over logged trees to make for construction. He was sure of one thing, unsustainable practices led to social and environmental harm.

I'm Tirana, Will sat at his office desk signing and editing reports. His face was impassive, except for the visible, serious, which revealed his gathering thoughts.

He was putting the finishing touches on a presentation that he give to King Roland and Duke Frances later today.

It was cloudy outside, so he turned on the desktop lamp and rubbed his eyes, before leaning back in his chair to stretch his aching neck. Looking back at the papers, he started reading over the salient parts of his presentation to check it one final time before finishing for the evening.

The facts, figures, and details of his presentation were spinning around in his head. The loss in deep water and river fish had caused a 17% drop in the commerce tax revenue, and deforestation had caused an 11% in hunting.

Those percentages were small compared to the 148% rise in construction permit revenue and 110% rise in meat sales.

Will was sure that most people in his job, would thank the stars Commerce Ministry had increased it tax revenue to the treasury. And his idea to put the brakes on the economy was necessary before inflation, and habit loss occurred.

After showing the king and duke the facts and figures, Will would explain the Tragedy of the Commons theory.

The tragedy of the commons refers to a situation in which individuals with access to a public resource act in their own interest and, in doing so, ultimately deplete the resource.

On Earth, William Forster Lloyd first conceptualized this economic theory.

The theory explains individuals' tendency to make decisions based on their personal needs, regardless of the negative impact it may have on others.

In some cases, an individual's belief that others won't act in the best interest of the group can lead them to justify selfish behavior.

The solution that William Lloyd suggested was to privatize all public goods. Owners have a vested interest to sustain their property.

For example, in Gadreel, Adventurers could hunt animals only above a certain height and weight. The same when for Friendship Valley fishermen. And the Forestry Department had long been responsible for logging and replanting.

Since Will owned the entire valley, it was in his economic interest to sustain the local ecology and environment. Hunters and Fishermen could count on the local fish stocks to remain near constant.

On the other hand, public forests, rivers, ponds, and the ocean were ripe for potential overuse.

A few people might find privatization unequal and believe it deprives common people of public goods, like parks.

In this case, some would suggest a public and private partnership, which may, influence individuals to not act with their short-term interests in mind. However, William Lloyd did not believe public and private partnerships could stop overuse.

The Tragedy of the Commons demonstrated how the kingdom could begin making sustainable and environmentally-friendly choices.

As a former Earthling, Will knew better than most how easily it was to fall into the trap of overexploiting environmental resources.

The signs of their incipient depletion were easy to mask as normal fluctuations in resource levels between years or decades and hid the facts in growing revenue data.

He knew firsthand, how difficult it was to get people to agree on exercising restraint in harvesting a shared resource. He severed on corporate boards for major energy companies.

He knew that environmental problems were hard to manage in Earth's modern, surely this era would be even harder to manage.

The next day, Will met King Roland and Duke Frances in his study.

"I'm getting complaints you're mistreating position. I've heard it made it more difficult for crafters and sawmills to get lumber. While you've tripled your lumber export? Can you explain yourself?" asked the king.

Will began his presentation by discussing the rising inflation, and how if the economy didn't slow, rising prices would send spiral out of control.

Then he talked about the Tragedy of the Commons and the overuse of natural resources. He explained why he increased Gadreel lumber export to cut down on illegal logging.

And the responses he received from nobles thanking him for inhibiting illegal logging.

"You know he's right. We need to restrict the fish and animals that can be hunted," Duke Francis said in agreement.

"Bryson announce Will's sustainable suggestion for fishing, hunting, and logging. Invite the worst offenders to spend a week in the prison," King Roland ordered.

"Right away your majesty!" Bryson said before leaving.

"Well, I'm glad you were abusing your authority. Now tell me what you plan to do about these demandable flowers!" King Roland said pointing to the vase of tulips behind him.

"Don't tell me?" Will asked.

"You're right the price nearly doubled. These are Rosalind's favorite flowers, but since the wedding, the price per bulb has doubled nearly every month," King Roland said angrily.

The Earth country, former Albania most resembled, was the Netherlands. And now Tirana had caught the same disease as Earth's Dutch, during their Golden Age, Tulip Mania.