Huh. The classic tragedy of the commons example I was taught in high school was about lighthouses. In college, I found out that nobody had tested this empirically except Ronald Coase, who found that lighthouses tended to be private and profitable, historically (this, of course, is not taught in standard economics courses; I only found out because I took a course on Coase).

And I don't even know about scientific research. I've talked to people at private research groups (e.g. Microsoft Research), and at major universities; the latter spend a lot less time doing research, and a lot more time delegating to grad students or hustling for grants. It is ironic, I guess, that the public servants spend their time in such bourgeoisie pursuits, while the capitalists are busy doing research.