Question

Suppose a community garden in your neighborhood has both individually owned plots and a large common plot. Further assume that the soil and sunlight conditions are the same everywhere in the garden. Which economic concept would explain why the tomatoes grown in individually owned plots are so much better than tomatoes grown in the common plot?

Answer 1

The free rider problem

Step-by-step explanation:

The free rider problem is a form of market failure in economics. It means that there's an insufficient form of commodity distribution in which some individuals are allowed to consume more than their fair share of the shared resources or pay less or not at all than the fair share of cost. In this case, tomatoes are overgrown and the common plot is over used, thus making individually owned plot perform better than the common plot. The whole free rider scenario occurs when those who benefits from communal services and goods do not pay for them or underpay for them and over use them.