WEALTH INEQUALITY AND EFFICIENCY IN THE COMMONS .1. THE UNREGULATED CASE

Does more inequality lead to more efficiency in the management of comm on property resources? To answer this question, an attempt is made to develop relevant theoretical models and to articulate them with empiri cal evidence drawn mainly from social science studies. The paper is di vided into two parts. In this, the first part, assuming away the possi bility of regulatory instruments, we construct a series of arguments p ointing to the ambiguous impact of wealth inequality on the efficiency of the equilibrium outcome.