Ambiguity, Social Opinion and the Use of Common Property Resources

In this paper we argue that ambiguity, combined with social opinion formation can be represented as part of a game-theoretic equilibrium concept that transcends the standard Nash equilibrium concept, applied to a model of the tragedy of the commons. Our modeling can shed some light on the international environment crisis and the relevant ongoing international negotiations. We conclude that social opinion formation in most cases has a significant impact on equilibrium common property resource usage.