Tragedy Or Treat? Halloween And The Trick-Or-Treating Commons
Abstract
The “tragedy of the commons” is typically a central topic in high school and college-level economics courses. This note provides a vignette for economics instructors that relates to the tragedy of the commons that, owing to the universality of the experience, may appeal to a wider audience than the traditional examples appearing in many textbooks. The vignette relates to the ages-old Halloween activity of trick-or-treating, particularly when some neighborhood residents choose to avoid the hassle of the activity by providing a “common-pool” candy bowl whose contents are distributed to trick-or-treating kids on an honor system.
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