What is a characteristic of common property resources?

Common property resources are characterized by being accessible to multiple people, which means that they are not owned by any single individual but are shared among a community or a group. This accessibility allows various individuals to use or benefit from the resource, such as fisheries, forests, or irrigation systems.

In the context of microeconomics, this concept relates to how common property resources can lead to challenges such as overuse or depletion, given that no single user has exclusive rights to manage or control the resource. The communal access often results in what is known as the "tragedy of the commons," where individual users may act in their own interest, ultimately harming the collective good.

By contrast, privately owned resources are exclusive to individuals, and resources available only to paying customers are not truly common property, as they are restricted based on payment, limiting accessibility. Limited usage rights imply restrictions that do not necessarily capture the essence of common property, where the defining feature is the broad accessibility to multiple users rather than limits or ownership.