Great Economists · Modern
Elinor Ostrom
The first woman to win the economics Nobel showed communities can manage shared resources without privatization or the state: the tragedy of the commons, field evidence from Swiss pastures to Maine lobsters, and her eight design principles.
Step 1 of 6 · Overview30 min read ·
Key idea
Prereqs: Externalities & public goods; Game theory: prisoner's dilemma. Next: Development economics. Sources: Ostrom, *Governing the Commons* (1990); Nobel Prize lecture (2009); Garrett Hardin, 'The Tragedy of the Commons' (Science, 1968).Next: 1. The problem