The song Signs by Tesla with economic interpretation?

Question

http://www.fivemanelectricalband.ca/signslyrics.html

The lyrics are there.

"The song "Signs," originally performed by the Five Man Electrical Band and also covered by Tesla, takes a stand for communal ownership of property. What are the costs and benefits of communal ownership of property? Assume that "keeping mother nature in" is purely selfish - does the invisible hand principle still apply? How about in a situation where fences are illegal?"

Can someone please explain to me what communal ownership is?
And does anyone have any answers for the other questions about the invisible hand metaphor by Adam Smith?
I really need help brainstorming ideas and answers.
Thanks to anyone who will answer! =]

Answer 1

Communal ownership means that no one person possesses an exclusive property right over a resource; rather, the entire community equally shares the right to a resource. A classic economic treatment of this subject is called the "tragedy of the commons", which shows the theoretical result that communal ownership of a resource leads to over use of that resource.

When Smith wrote about how the invisible hand of the market place allocated resources more effectively than any other such allocation mechanism I think that private property rights were central to his argument. That is, as I understand Smith, he was saying that individual self interest to maximize the value of privately owned resources promotes economic efficiency better than does any other such mechanism.

I hope that this helps. If you are interested in some citations of writings that discuss this material you may email me. I don't have these sources at hand at the moment.

Answer 2

Actually, the song is more about intolerance than about communal ownership. To understand the good and bad of communal ownership, just look at it's most obvious form - communism. It can work on a small scale (i.e.: the communes of the '60s) but is terrible on a large scale. Right or wrong, the self interests of individuals will come out and the more individuals in the community, the more things can get messy.