Why big groups struggle to get anything done

Mancur Olson's 1965 book showed that rational self-interest can sabotage a group's shared goals: individuals benefit from a group's wins whether or not they personally contributed, so large groups often under-mobilise compared with small, concentrated interests. It overturned the assumption that shared interest alone naturally produces collective action.

— Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups — Harvard University Press, 1965
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