Here’s an excellent illustration of the collective action problem in one of my favorite fables by Russian writer Ivan Krylov. Like all Krylov’s works, this one is an ingenious satire of social faulty behavior.
Crab, the Pike, and the Swan
(by Ivan Krylov, 1768-1844)
Whenever companions don’t agree,
They work without accord;
And naught but trouble doth result,
Although they all work hard.
One day a swan, a pike, a crab,
Resolved a load to haul;
All three were harnessed to the cart,
And pulled together all.
But though they pulled with all their might,
The cart-load on the bank stuck tight.
The swan pulled upward to the skies;
The crab did backward crawl;
The pike made for the water straight —
It proved no use at all!
Now, which of them was most to blame
’Tis not for me to say;
But this I know: the load is there
Unto this very day!






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