Tragedy of the Commons Explained with Smurfs

February 7th, 2008

Has been posted at the Science Creative Quarterly.

99 Smurfs on the Wall

99 Smurfs on the Wall

No comments yet to “Tragedy of the Commons Explained with Smurfs”

hehe, interesting
by Clint February 7th, 2008 at 10:16 am
What is the role of Azrael?
by Bora Zivkovic February 8th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Ryan, you are amazing. I’m sending that to some of the teachers here who teach economics. I’m so glad that you’re my friend!

PS…a pound of gold is probably correct, considering the average smurf is two apples tall, and two apples weigh approx. one pound.

I have two students interested in reading this right now.
by flyingsirkus February 8th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
flyingsirkus - Smurfs are three apples high.

-BMF
by BMF February 8th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Ryan,

Congrats on getting this posted on Science Creative Quarterly. Additional congratulations to making it to the front page of Digg.

-BMF
by BMF February 9th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I understand your bitterness about corporations having human rights. That is a bad thing, like “copyright in perpetuity” bad. What I don’t understand is how you conflate this with free market economics (I guess that is what you mean by “market law”). Current corporatism is only harmful to free market economics as it distorts the benefit side of the cost benefit analysis. Then again, I guess someone who can not understand that an invisible hand is a metaphor for higher level math, (the stuff that would take years to learn, but must be referenced in works intended for the masses) would have a hard time separating fact (free market economics) from fiction (corporatism). In fact the tragedy of the commons generally only occurs when the market is regulated so that some people can exploit a resource to the exclusion of others.
by earthcreed February 9th, 2008 at 10:12 am
This is great! Who can argue against a smurf’s right to potable water? Hardin always seemed to try and break concepts down into their simplest elements and this continues that tradition - congrats!
by Krys February 9th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Wonderfully executed. This brings the discussion on biodiversity and overconsumption to a whole new level.

I wonder how many economists watch the Smurfs…
by Jacob February 11th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Jacob,

I think Brainy Smurf had a minor in Smurfonmics. Does that count?

-BMF
by BMF February 11th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I still recall this old article that shows that Smurfs represent a Marxist culture:

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Cinema/3117/sociosmurf2.htm

“Economically, the Smurf Village is closed-market. There is no money, and all possessions are communal - property of the collective. Everyone is equally a worker and an owner. The Smurfs reject the idea of a free-market economy, with its greed and inequities, and the collective is more important and valuable than the individual. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. John Lennon asked us to ‘imagine no possessions’. The Smurf Village achieves that goal. In fact, many of the ideas expressed in that song are reality in the Village. There is one large piece of capital, or produced means of production, in the Smurf Village: the dam. It is owned, operated and repaired by the entire collective.

The Smurfs all refer to one another by the same title; ‘Smurf’. Eg, Brainy Smurf, Handy Smurf, Jokey Smurf, Lazy Smurf, Papa Smurf. This is highly reminiscent of socialist states’ use of the word ‘comrade’ when referring to others, instead of more elitist titles. ”
by doranchak February 11th, 2008 at 4:46 pm