ElinorOstrom

Lots of neat stuff.

One real world social dilemma occurred during the Winter of 1978/1979 in the Netherlands. Due to an unusually heavy snow, a small village in the North of the Netherlands was completely cut off from the rest of country so that there was no electricity to use for light, heating, television, etc.  However, one of the 150 inhabitants owned a generator that could provide sufficient electricity to all people of this small community if and only if they exercised substantial restraint in their energy use.  For example, they should use only one light, they should not use heated water, the heating should be limited to about 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit), and the curtains should be closed.  As it turned out, the generator collapsed because most people were in fact using heated water, living comfortably at 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit), watching television, and burning several lights simultaneously. After being without electricity for a while, the citizens were able to repair the generator, and this time, they appointed inspectors to check whether people were using more electricity than they agreed upon. But even then, the generator eventually collapsed due to overuse of energy. And again, all inhabitants suffered from the cold and lack of light, and of course, could not watch television.

Ostrom's obvious connection to this term.  She also referred to her 'science' as the study of social dilemmas.