CC–PP game

[1] The concept is Hardin's interpretation of the closely related phenomenon known as the tragedy of the commons,[2] and is referred to in political discourse as "privatizing profits and socializing losses."

The CC–PP Game originally appeared in Hardin's book titled Filters against Folly: How To Survive Despite Economists, Ecologists, and the Merely Eloquent which was published in 1986.

[1] Players of the CC–PP Game aim to commonize the costs (or externalities) generated by their activities across the wider community, while privatizing all profits (financial or otherwise) to themselves.

[1] Hardin related the CC–PP Game to ecological problems such mining, groundwater overdraft, cattle ranching and other actions that cause the depletion of natural resources or an increase in pollution.

[4] Hardin uses the original conception of the commons as a "village pasture used for grazing sheep or cattle in preindustrial England.

"[1] John D. Aram summarized the tragedy of the commons and the CC–PP Game stating, "Tragic macro effects result from a structure of micro incentives that allows unmanaged access to a fixed resource.

Where there are two individuals making separate choices to defect by privatizing benefits and commonizing costs, or to cooperate and refrain from personal gain in order to preserve a resource.

[5] However, unlike the Prisoner's Dilemma that only has two people, CC–PP Game is an aggregate of many individuals, making it harder to see the effects of a single person's decisions.

[1] Hardin states, "Until the development of nationalized schemes of compensation in the twentieth century the costs of deteriorated health were "paid" by the miner himself, partly in medical bills but even more in reduced capacity to work and enjoy life.

"[1] Hardin also included "intangible assets" such as “worker safety, stabilizing the cost of healthcare, and economic efficiency" as instances of tragedy of the commons.

[5] John D. Aram argues that Hardin would be in favor of a flat tax structure and elimination of public subsidies.