ECONOMICS
TRUDI MAKHAYA: It took a woman to show how sharing collectives survive
'Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom found surprisingly numerous instances where communities create effective governance'
I am working on a project that has got me thinking about the work of Elinor Ostrom, the first, and to date only, woman to have been awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. I can’t say that Ostrom’s significant contribution to economics featured much in my university studies in the subject, which I began two decades ago. Perhaps now, since she was awarded the Nobel in 2009, her work may have gained more prominence in curricula. It is worth reflecting on the contribution Ostrom made to economics and political science. The short citation for the Nobel states that the award is bestowed on her "for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons". Her work challenged the "long, unanimously held" view that "natural resources that were collectively used by their users would be overexploited and destroyed in the long term". This is the famous "tragedy of the commons" principle. Ostrom applied a dizzying range of methodologies to understand how small communities ma...
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