What is the 'tragedy of the commons' in economics?

The tragedy of the commons is when everyone uses something shared, and it ends up getting ruined because no one wants to take care of it.

Imagine you and your friends all share a big bag of candy. Every day, you can grab some candy from the bag without asking anyone. At first, there’s plenty for everyone. But as time goes on, each of you keeps taking more and more. Soon, the bag is almost empty, and no one wants to stop taking candy because they’re all thinking, “If I don’t take it now, someone else will!”

That’s exactly what happens with the tragedy of the commons. A commons is a shared resource, like a park, a lake, or even a bag of candy. When people use it without thinking about the future, they might all end up hurting it, just like when you and your friends finish off that last piece of candy together.

Each person wants to get the most out of the shared resource right now. But if everyone does that, the commons gets used up too fast, and no one has anything left for tomorrow.