---
slug: oip-invariant-19-319-commons-institutional-design-the-social-scale-grain
title: Invariant 3.19 — Commons / institutional design (the social-scale grain)
canonical: https://miscsubjects.com/a/oip-invariant-19-319-commons-institutional-design-the-social-scale-grain
---

## 3.19 Commons / institutional design (the social-scale grain)
Groups can sustain shared resources without top-down coercion, under specific design rules. **Sources:** Elinor Ostrom (governing the commons, Nobel); mechanism design; Axelrod (evolution of cooperation). **Domains:** economics, law, governance, ecology. **Dual:** tragedy of the commons / captured institution. **Tier:** T1. **Falsifier:** Ostrom's design principles failing to predict commons outcomes. **Maps:** A₄ (the floor as coexistence contract), A₃.

---

## Corpus map
- Same invariant, other planes: [Catalogue node C22](/a/oip-node-c22-commons-institutional-design) · [Encyclopedia C22](/a/convergence-encyclopedia-c22)
- Inventory hub: [Convergence Catalogue — Public Article](/a/oip-convergence-public-article)
