The Limits to Common Resource Management: The Bypassed Commons or Commons without Tragedy

Land, labor, indigenous knowledge and institutional resources of producers in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia are investigated. Frequency distribution and comparative statistical analysis of the two regions with respect to these and other parameters suggest that in a situation where all producers are subjected to a common source of risk (e.g. rainfall): i) the institutional resources become less effective, and ii) combination of land, labor, knowledge and other complementary resources form the basis for adjustment mechanisms, sequential or strategic decisions, and that these decisions are directed towards maintaining the nuclear family. On the other hand, when essential resources such as land are government owned and household decisions are shared by the state, local institutions or social networks become an effective means to maintain reproduction of the farm and the producer through providing access to or sharing of resources.