Balancing Accuracy and Meaning in Common-Pool Resource Theory

Common-pool resources are managed in complex environments that are amenable to understanding, analysis, and management at multiple levels. This paper develops a heuristic criterion to identify the costs and benefits of adopting various levels of analysis when constructing theory for commonpool resource management. It argues that there is no single optimal level for such analysis. Instead, a tradeoff is posed where theories at higher levels tend to be more accurate but less meaningful than theories at lower levels.