Mancur Olson and the Tragedy of the Unbalanced Commons

Mancur Olson and the Tragedy of the Unbalanced Commons. Richard Zeckhauser, 2015, Book Chapter. "Economists constitute a rich menagerie. The vast majority of economists are patient toilers. In their everyday investigations, conducting regressions, tallying benefits and costs, and taking derivatives, they till the local fields. Yet, the most famous economists are often the equivalent of fierce warlords, capturing intellectual territory and fighting off those who seek, with alternative models and rival empirical analyses, to occupy it. Those who follow these warlords work in concert, like armies. Warlords and their lieutenants together can dominate vast domains..."