More Goats! More In-depth Commons Problems!

More Goats! More In-depth Commons Problems!

Well the commons are just complicated enough to merit some more discussion! We looked at a couple of scenarios where different families were trying to sort of “cheat” the equilibrium. How about we look at what  every possible payoff I can get is? Below is a sheet with the number of goats that I raise in green, and the number that everyone else in yellow. In the cells is the TOTAL money that I get for all my goats.

What’s going on here? I set an arbitrary number that 20 is the most efficient level of goats. At 21 goats, your goats are worth less. Not worthless, just worth less. So, the distribution can be that I raise 10 goats and everyone else has 10 goats too. I make $10 then. So does everyone else.

If I raise 12 goats and everyone else raises 10 goats, I make $10.90.

This chart, though, fails to account for the cost of raising a goat. So this just shows goat worth. The next post will have a chart with net profit that incorporates the cost. This one just shows us how much we will make based on how many other goats are being raised.

Goat picture hat tip to



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