After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

• 15.1 Describe how free riding influences U.S. health care reform efforts.
• 15.2 Explain how the tragedy of the commons complicates nations’ attempts to address climate change.
• 15.3 Identify the political costs and benefits of teetering on a fiscal cliff.
• 15.4 Relate the ways that entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security are subject to the prisoner’s dilemma.
• 15.5 Discuss the collective action challenges to achieving meaningful tax reform.