Juan-Camilo CárdenasЭлинор Остром2026-03-222026-03-22200610.1017/cbo9780511617720.007https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511617720.007https://andeanlibrary.org/handle/123456789/80503Citaciones: 9Contemporary economic theory is one of the more successful, empirically verified social science theories to explain human behavior. It does best, however, in the settings for which it was developed – the exchange of private goods and services in an open, competitive market. The theory is based on a theory of goods, a set of rules for social exchange, and a model of human behavior. When the goods involved are easily excludable and rivalrous, and individuals are interacting in a competitive market, theoretical predictions have strong empirical support. When the goods involved are not easy to exclude – such as public goods or common-pool resources (CPRs) – conventional theoretical predictions receive much less empirical support. In a static setting, the conventional predictions are that individuals will not produce public goods and that they will overharvest common-pool resources. The evidence for both predictions is mixed.enTragedy of the commonsPublic goodCommonsPublic goods gamePrivate goodExcludabilityMicroeconomicsEmpirical evidenceCommon-pool resourceEconomicsbook-chapter