In 1968, ecologist Garrett Hardin explored this social dilemma in his article &quot;The Tragedy of the Commons&quot;, published in the journal Science.<p>The &quot;prisoner&#x27;s dilemma&quot; is a quantitative&#x2F;mathematically rigorous description of the same concept that came out later in 1992.<p>I would go with &quot;Tragedy of the commons&quot; over the game theory title since it came out earlier and is a much more readable article for the average layman! Also, &quot;Tragedy of the commons&quot; sounds more appropriate. Here&#x27;s a link to the original article: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencemag.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;162&#x2F;3859&#x2F;1243.full" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencemag.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;162&#x2F;3859&#x2F;1243.full</a>