Suppose a lake is publicly owned, i.e. a common property resource, with free fishing for all. The number of fish caught varies with the number of people fishing as follows:
Labour Total Product
1 13
2 25
3 36
4 46
5 55
6 63
7 70
8 76
9 81
Assume the market price of these fish is $10 per fish, and this price is not affected by the number of fish caught in this lake. Assume that all fishermen can earn $100 per day in their next best alternative. Assume the fishermen share equally in the proceeds of the lake.
a) Explain much fishing will occur in a common property setting.
b) Assume now that the lake is privately owned and the owner hires fishermen for $100 per day. How much fishing would the owner allow?
c) Why is the common property result considered to be inefficient?