Read Rise and Decline of Nations by Mancur Olson. http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Decline-Nations-Stagflation-Rigidities/dp/0300030797 http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Dec

Read Rise and Decline of Nations by Mancur Olson. http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Decline-Nations-Stagflation-Rigidities/dp/0300030797 http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Decline-Nations-Stagflation-Rigid... It explains this phenomenon. Basically, for a group of size n, members only get 1/n of the value they contribute towards any collective goal, so noone bothers, unless coerced, like with unions.