The tragedy of the commons is an economic theory proposed by Garrett Hardin in 1968. Essentially the premise is that where no one owns property, (i.e. it is communal) then no one has incentive to protect it. In actuality, there is more incentive to use up the resource before someone else does.
Central to Hardin's article is a metaphor of herders sharing a common parcel of land (the commons), on which they are all entitled to let their cows graze. In Hardin's view, it is in each herder's interest to put as many cows as possible onto the land, even if the commons are damaged as a result. The herder receives all of the benefits from the additional cows, while the damage to the commons is shared by the entire group. If all herders make this individually rational decision, however, the commons are destroyed and all herders suffer.
Positive: the herder receives all of the proceeds from each additional animal.
Negative: the pasture is slightly degraded by each additional animal.
(Taken from Wikipedia.)
Thinking in terms of commercial fishing we see this problem all the time. No one owns the fish stock and therefore no one protects it so it comes back year in and year out. Instead, fisherman are induced to take as large a catch of fish as possible because they know if they do not someone else will. They will then forfeit revenue that someone else gains.
What does this have to do with the National Mall you may be asking. Well, the answer to that question is that because essentially no one owns the mall it is not getting the money it needs in order to be maintained and improved. When I say no one owns the mall what I mean is that there are no Congressional representatives that can score political points or win votes by giving money to the Mall. Instead through earmarks and diversion of funds, they send money back to their home states and the money that should be going to the National Mall is diverted away.
Stephen Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense has said, "We're making spending decisions on the basis of political muscle, rather than project merit. Because the mall is owned by nobody, even though it is this gem for many Americans, it gets short shrift," he said.
While law makers can score points by sending money home to repair a Mother's Day Shrine in West Virginia or build a bridge to no where in Alaska, the National Mall gets short changed over and over again based on the appropriation of money via earmarks. However, the mall doesn't just lose out in the earmark process, it loses out in the regular funding process as well. Just this year, Congress removed $200 million that would have been directed to National Mall repair in the stimulus bill and last year they voted down a measure that would have spent $100 million on the Mall. No one cares about the Mall because it isn't politically expedient.
Meanwhile the Mall receives more than 25 million visitors a year from all over the globe with as many as 1.8 million at a time for large events like the Presidential Inauguration and National 4th of July Festival.
Until we can stop the corruption of the appropriations process and eliminate earmarks, there does not appear to be much hope for the National Mall or financial accountability for our tax payer dollars. The tragedy of the commons will continue to play out on the Nation's front lawn for all the worlds visitors to see.
Read more about the problem here.
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