Why use the term "market failure" here?<p>"Ecosystems like coral reefs or forests are public goods. And we are drawing a benefit from these resources and some people may be drawing an income, but there’s no cost. In economic language, this is a market failure. There is no incentive to maintain that resource and so it suffers what is called a tragedy of the commons."<p>This is not a market failure, it is the total <i>absence</i> of a market. Without clear property rights, the tragedy of the commons is bound to ensue.<p>For example, it is widely known that poachers have decimated the elephant population in Africa. But on private property, the elephant population has rebounded enormously. The reason is simple: the people who own this land have a vested interest in maintaining large numbers of elephants on it.