Free-Rider Problem
A free rider is someone who benefits from the cooperative efforts of a group of people but does not substantially contribute to the group’s efforts.
This is basically the Prisoner’s Dilemma, there is a strong incentive to not do any work, and a correspondingly strong disincentive to be the one who does the work.
- You don’t have to do the work, because someone else is going to do the work
Make a personal commitment to not be a free rider. Your coworkers will not take you seriously nor will they want to work with you if you are known as a free rider.
The reason the free rider succeeds is because the other group members have no way to censure the free rider. Unless the other group members can punish the free rider in some way, such as by kicking them out of the group, the free rider will respond to the incentive to defect and the disincentive to cooperate in predictable ways. That is, they will continue to reap the benefits of the group’s work and put in very little effort.
Social Problem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-rider_problem The free-rider problem becomes a social problem because If everyone free rides, nothing gets done.
From Wikipedia: The free-rider problem is a type of market failure that occurs when those who benefit from resources, public goods or services of a communal nature do not pay for them.
Personal thought: This might be the issue with Universal Basic Income? If everyone gets paid, nobody wants to work and create value in society