Four friends decide to meet at a Chinese restaurant for dinner. They decide that each person will order an item off the menu, and they will share all dishes. They will split the cost of the final bill evenly among each of the people at the table. A Tragedy of the Commons problem is likely for each of the following reasons except

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The tragedy of the commons typically arises when a good is non-excludable (meaning people cannot be prevented from accessing it) and rival in consumption (meaning one person's use of the good diminishes its availability to others). In this scenario, the dishes that the friends are sharing would be excludable (since they ordered specific items off the menu) and rivalrous in consumption (since eating the food decreases the amount available to others). Therefore, D is not a reason for a tragedy of the commons problem to arise. A, B, and C all describe potential incentives for individuals to over-consume the shared resource, which could lead to a tragedy of the commons.

Four Friends Decide to Meet at a Chinese Restaurant for Dinner