Name: The logic of collective action
ISBN: 9780674537514

The logic of collective action

Olson develops a theory of group and organizational behavior that cuts across disciplinary lines and illustrates the theory with empirical and historical studies of particular organizations, examining the extent to which individuals who share a common interest find it in their individual interest to bear the costs of the organizational effort.

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th0rawayAug 2026

Most of the problems of the US system aren't really a matter of who pays, but the fact that so much is paid for services, at every level. Any really significant savings, cutting bureaucracy and pressuring providers to make costs resemble those of other developed countries, are taking money out of someone's pocket. Many hundreds of thousands of them, if not millions. This makes any significant reform very difficult, as those people vote, and will know exactly who made them worse off, even if the country in general was made much better off.

Read The Logic of Collective Action by Mancur Olsen. It wasn't written thinking of healthcare. but anyone looking at the US healthcare system will see that what is going on is stacks upon stacks of collective action beating overall societal efficiency, over and over and over again, in such a way that it's basically in none of the decision makers best interest to actually increase overall efficiency.

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specialistJan 2026

Thanks for recommending Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. It's a good compliment to The Logic of Collective Action.

Sad I'm just now learning of it.

I've used Jacobin (and such) to reveal my blindspots. Criticisms, from the left, have helped me clarify, understand, and articulate my own positions and beliefs.

As for being apolitical, well... My primary motivator is to "increase the peace" (for brevity's sake). And partisanship hasn't helped much.

FWIW, you might enjoy David Roberts' recent interview with Samuel Bagg.

https://www.volts.wtf/p/the-cure-for-misinformation-is-not

They explain and articulate some of what I've experienced trying to (re)build relationships with friends and family (with opposing views). Micro dose validation of some stuff I've intuited (this decade past) was a nice dopamine hit.

Like you, I'm focusing my "political" and "activism" energy on building community, doing things. And trying to disengage from the never-ending partisan food fights.

Thanks again. Cheers.

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specialistApr 2025

My slogan for using FOSS for govt is "citizen owned software".

At one time, I anticipated the rise of FOSS consortiums. Jurisdictions with similar needs would join together to share the cost and risks.

Canada, Mexico, USA each have 1,000s of juridictions. Surely at any one time there's a handful planning a technology refresh of some domain.

One easy example I know of is property tax administration. There's a bunch of counties of similar size all doing the same thing, but all running off in separate directions. Vendor options are complicated, expensive, and have lock-in. Surely it'd be beneficial to pool their resources and own their stack?

Another is election administration. US counties used to do all it themselves. Candidate filings, voter registration, poll books, yadda, yadda. Now it's all outsourced. Lower service for higher prices. (The "certification" process was captured, serving to protect incumbents. Natch.)

Any way.

I was a grunt for a member of a consortium FOSS project. It was awful. "The Logic of Collective Action" explained a great deal of the pathology. Also, Byran Cantrill's quote (wrt Open Solaris) about "having the freedom but not the power to fork" was spot on for our project.

Any way.

Does any one have examples or game plan or vision for realizing more FOSS in govt? I'm not quite ready to give up on the dream.

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dredmorbiusApr 2025

The Logic of Collective Action, Mancur Olson, 1965:

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Logic_of_Collective_Action>

<https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=63B1D140FD13A03F15BF842...>

Very strongly recommended. I'd stumbled across this in my uni days, and its power and insight were obvious even to naive me then. It's since emerged as a classic of economics.

PaulHoule is also a fan: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43775531>

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specialistMar 2025

> What does it look like when rubber meets the road?

The book The Logic of Collective Action helped me understand.

TLDR: Collective bargaining helps prevent the free rider problem. It's just game theory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Logic_of_Collective_Action

I have so many complaints about unions. Very briefly.

#1 Suboptimal governance. Especially when leadership gets "captured". But that's always true of all human orgs. I have nothing helpful to add here.

#2 Accelerating inequity. Corporate profits up while wages remain stagnant. Just as u/singron commented elsethread. I just don't understand how this isn't the central issue. For every person, union, voter, policy maker. For everyone.

#3 Adversarial relationship (in the USA). Labor and Capital (via their proxy, Management) need to work together. My only notion is to encourage member (employee) owned and managed co-ops. (Which would need access to financial support of come kind, eg "slow capital". Which is antithetical to Wall St, neoliberalism, rent seeking, yadda, yadda.)

That said... I'm very pro-Labor. And unenthusiastically pro-union, out of necessity, until we figure out something better.

Like you suggest, no way simply unionizing magically resolves my complaints. Meta stuff like culture, policy, laws, expectations would have to change, to create the space for "better" unions. Stuff like repeal Taft Hartley Act, institute sectorial bargaining, investment banks structured to support social endeavors (like co-ops), yadda yadda.

And I have no clue where to start.

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PaulHouleMar 2025

Depends on the book. There are a lot of books that are the equivalent of a podcast episode (anything by Malcolm Gladwell) or a series of podcast episodes (anything by Robert Greene) and even some serious and influential books in the social sciences and can be cooked down to a single university lecture like

Exit, Voice and Loyalty by Albert O. Hirschman

Logic of Collective Action by Mancur Olson

The Zero-sum Society by Lester Thurow (want to know why the world gave up on tariffs?)

maybe some worthwhile management books could be extended into a podcast series, I'd say

Quality is Free by Phillip Crosby

Then there are some books that really could change your life, say

Solid State Physics by Ashcroft and Mermin

The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth

Principles of Compiler Design by Aho and Ullman

Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art by Steve McConnell

The Mushroom Cultivator: A Practical Guide to Growing Mushrooms at Home by Paul Stamets

Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe

Being and Event by Alain Badiou

Liberation in the Palm of your Hand by Pabongka Rinpoche

The Art of Happiness by Mirko Fryba

All of which have the element that they'll only change you if you engage deeply with them or the subject, like for the Rippetoe book you're going to have to pick up a bar.

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