The Nobel in Economic Science was awarded to Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to receive the prize, and to Oliver E. Williamson on Monday.

IU professor Elinor Ostrom joins in Nobel economics prize

They share the prize for their separate work on economic governance, organization, cooperation, relationships and nonmarket institutions.

Reactions to the Nobel Prize in Economics

Both professors teach at American public institutions: Ms. Ostrom at Indiana University, Bloomington, and Mr. Williamson at the University of California, Berkeley.

Profile of Elinor Ostrom

Born in Los Angeles in 1933, Elinor Ostrom experienced firsthand the value of sustainability at a young age. She grew up in an era of economic depression that led into a resource-consuming war, in a city where fresh water was a prized commodity. “My mother had a victory garden during the war,” she recalls, “so I learned all about growing vegetables and preserving them by canning, and that was a wonderful experience that a lot of urban kids don’t ever learn.” These early real-world lessons also revealed another important fact of life to Ostrom: that most people, when presented with a resource problem, can cooperate and act for the common good.  Read more here

Ms. Ostrom’s work focuses on the commons, such as how pools of users manage natural resources as common property. The traditional view is that common ownership results in excessive exploitation of resources — the so-called tragedy of the commons that occurs when fishermen overfish a common pond, for example.  Read full story here

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Tags: economic science, economics, Elinor Ostrom, elinor ostrom nobel peace prize, nobel peace prize economics, obama nobel peace prize, oliver e williamson nobel peace prize, oliver e. williamson

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