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Overgrazing
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==Economic theory== {{Main|Common land}} Overgrazing is used as an example in the economic concept now known as the [[Tragedy of the Commons]] devised in a 1968 paper by [[Garrett Hardin]].<ref name="hardin68">Garrett Hardin (December 13, 1968), [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243 "The Tragedy of the Commons"], ''Science'', Vol. 162, No. 3859, pp. 1243-1248. Also available [http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/162/3859/1243.pdf here] and [http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_the_commons.html here].</ref> This cited the work of a Victorian economist who used as an example the over-grazing of common land. Hardin's example could only apply to unregulated use of land regarded as a common resource. Normally, rights of use of common land in England and Wales were, and still are, closely regulated, and available only to "commoners". If excessive use was made of common land, for example in overgrazing, a common would be "stinted", that is, a limit would be put on the number of animals each commoner was allowed to graze. These regulations were responsive to demographic and economic pressure; thus rather than let a common become degraded, access was restricted even further. This important part of actual historic practice was absent from the economic model of Hardin.<ref>Susan Jane Buck Cox (Spring 1985). [http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/3113/buck_NoTragedy.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y "No Tragedy on the Commons"]. ''Journal of Environmental Ethics'', Vol. 7.</ref> In reality the use of common land in England and Wales was a triumph of conserving a scarce resource using agreed custom and practice.
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