Solutions to Collective Action Problems

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Philosophy - Philosophy of the 20th century, grade: 1,4, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, language: English, abstract: Collective action problems describe a situation where aggregated individual rational behaviour creates decreased collective welfare. They can be described as 'social dilemmas' according to Holzinger, 2003. Based on this definition, it is possible to identify a discrepancy in between what is regarded rational on an individual level and the collective common 'good'. Therefore, in a collective action problem micro-level behaviour translates into undesirable macro-level effects, which manifest in decreased collective welfare. Based on this first definition, this study focuses on two central aspects: 1. providing a possible explanation of how collective action problems derive from rational individual behaviour 2. providing possible solutions to collective problems. To put abstract theory into a reality oriented context, this study furthermore focuses in the discussion of the nature and problematics of collective action problems on Hardin's tragedy of the commons (ToC).