The Abundance of the Commons

Pi Day is our own example of the possibility of community abundance

Every year since 2010¹ my family has hosted Pi Day on March 14 (3.14). It is the easiest party in the world to host. The guests bring a pie, and we supply napkins, plates and beverages. It’s the best party of the year. We hosted yesterday and I am consequently stuffed, with a refrigerator full of partially-eaten surplus pies.²

A partial example of the abundance from yesterday.

Economics Lesson

There is this economics concept called The Tragedy of the Commons, which begins with the apocryphal story of a town square, or the shared village green. The shepherds and cattlemen and husbandmen all have free and unrestricted access to the common space, for shared grazing of their animals.

Since it’s free for the community, everyone takes advantage of the grazing opportunity to the maximum extent. Soon enough the town square is a parched area devoid of green shoots. The animals no longer have grazing, and everyone in the town is worse off because of the overgrazing.

The economic lessons of The Tragedy of the Commons are that:

1. Free things shared by the community will end in scarcity and tragedy, as they will be overused.

2. A pricing mechanism, by which we could regulate who has access to the commons or who is willing to pay the most for a scarce resource, is better. Free stuff for everyone is bad.

3. The “negative externality” of unpriced common goods for everyone is that they get overused and then ultimately unusable by anyone.

My Pi Day table runner. So cool.

But during Pi Party, we always end up with the exact opposite of this dismal economics lesson.

We send out invitations via Facebook and text for friends and printed fliers for the actual neighbors on our street. We always say “everyone is invited!” and we mean it. There is no RSVP list. Our message is that guests should bring one pie for every roughly 3.14 people who come to the party, but all are welcome.

For a party with an unlimited guest list, the surplus is always extraordinary. Pi Party is an example of an economics concept I am inventing today and calling The Abundance of the Commons.

The Abundance of the Commons

The inevitable result of Pi Party is that we have way too much pie, and lots of leftover soft drinks and beer and wine.³ The final 20 minutes of Pi Party is spent begging people to take away as much pie as they can handle, to reduce waste as well as the threat to our waist. The abundance seemingly happens spontaneously and inevitably, through shared generosity and goodwill.

Fishes and Loaves

In junior high school I had a music teacher who told us she was part of a “biblical rationalist” club that got together to not just re-tell Bible stories, but actually to explain the magical parts of the text through science, or wholly rational explanations.⁴ I have no idea what her faith life was like, but I recall she explained to us kids what may have happened on the day of the fishes-and-loaves parable.⁵

According to her, the crowd that gathered to hear Jesus speak began that day suspicious of one another. Skeptical. Insular and solitary. Feeling the scarcity of a hard life.

As Jesus warmed up the crowd, and as they felt the collective effervescence of his message, their shoulders relaxed. The picnic baskets began to be opened. Sharing didn’t seem too scary after all. They found they had not only brought enough for their families, but also for the people seated around them listening to this young rabbi speak. There was plenty of bread. Too much, in fact. And the fish? Well, it wasn’t going to taste better in 2 more days. Better to offer some to the family sitting next to you. For the crowd in front of Jesus expecting scarcity and hunger, they ended the day experiencing abundance.

As my music teacher explained it, maybe Jesus didn’t do any magic at all. He didn’t multiply the fishes or the loaves with heavenly powers. If he did anything, it was to make the people believe that their neighbors were trustworthy. That Abundance of the Commons on that day is told as a miracle.

Maybe it’s just something like Pi Party. Maybe if we do not have a scarcity mindset there will be plenty for all, and then some.

My backyard fig tree. The trunk was cut this year down to a stump but that didn’t stop fig leaves from sprouting from the base. Nature abhors a vacuum and it also creates abundance.

I hope to see you next year

The weather in San Antonio in mid-March is, inevitably, absolutely perfect. Not too hot, not too cool. The mountain laurels are in bloom, spreading their bubblegum-flavored scent to announce Texas Springtime. The knockout roses that line the front of my fence burst open red just in time to greet my neighbors. My fig tree, which we had to cut down to a stump last year, has sprung new green shoots all around the root base. I fly the appropriate flag for a party.

My house from the street yesterday, Pi Day. if I’m flying the “This Bar is Open” flag from the porch it means the party is happening here.

Whether its biblical, or Springtime, or a new economic concept I just invented (“The Abundance of the Commons”) Pi Day is a beautiful highlight of the year.

Next year, you should come. Bring your neighbors, and bring a pie.

1. Origin story of Pi Day at our house: We moved in to the house in January 2010, expecting our 2nd child in 3 weeks hence. A neighbor came by and asked “Are you guys going to host Pi Day this year? The previous owners were big nerds and they always hosted a Pi Party on March 14.” We gulped and said yes, we would continue the tradition. Baby was 4 weeks old when we first hosted Pi Party. That baby just got her drivers license last week.

2. This is a great party except for people trying to eat “Keto” or “Paleo” or gluten free. Then it’s a nightmare party. For the rest of us it’s a paradise of carbs and sugar and baked dough. Just this one day. Forgive me.

3. One interesting side note of abundance and scarcity from yesterday’s party, which has anecdotal implications for beverage consumption trends in 2026. We ended with a large surplus of wine and beer (and juice.) Interestingly, the only thing we ran out of was seltzer water. Trend watchers have been talking about declining alcohol consumption for the last few years in favor of non-alcoholic beverages, especially among the youth. Breweries have been closing at a rapid clip in my city, reversing the boom of newly-opened breweries 10 years ago. Next year we need to buy more seltzer and less beer and wine!

4. She was a fine music teacher but a “biblical rationalist” club sounds like an even nerdier group than a group of people who would host a Pi Party every year. No magic? Talk about buzzkill. Next they are going to tell me there’s no Easter Bunny either!?

5. This is in Matthew 14:17-21 and again Matthew 15:32-39 and again in a few other places in the books of Mark, Luke and John. To be clear, this “biblical rationalist” explanation is not the preferred explanation of Catholic/Christian theologians.