Commons

pollution, development and over harvesting have greatly diminished America's natural oyster habitat. Aquaculture and adaptable farmers have changed the game.

Historian Matthew Pinsker explains the Homestead Act in the context of the Civil War, when it was passed.

The rivalry between brilliant paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh dominated American science during the second half of the 19th century.

In this video, we take a look at common goods. Common resources are nonexcludable but rival. For instance, no one can be excluded from fishing for tuna, but they are rival — for every tuna caught, there is one less for everyone else. Nonexcludable but rival resources often lead to what we call a “tragedy of the commons.”

As Prof. Sean Mulholland at Stonehill College explains, the 'tragedy of the commons' occurs when individuals acting independently end up depleting shared resources, such as fisheries or pastureland.