George Mokray lives in Central Square and is interested in many
things. He always has his special perspective and this is a fine
short piece about Elinor Ostrom.

I’ve followed Elinor Ostrom’s work for years. She is the premier
scholar of the commons, how it works, and why it fails. She convinced
Garrett Hardin to clarify his theory of the tragedy of the commons so
that it no longer implies that every commons is doomed to degradation.
Only a commons that is not regulated by its users endures Hardin’s
tragedy and Ostrom has detailed many uses of common pool resources
which have endured for decades, centuries, and, perhaps, even
millennia.

I’ve seen her speak twice. Once at MIT in the 1990s and, most
recently, at Tufts where she accepted another prize for her life’s
work. It has been my privilege to thank her in person for what she’s
done. She is a close observer, a subtle thinker, a gracious lady, and
her work is probably key to any survival we may expect as a species.
Congratulations to Dr Ostrom. Her books and papers are revelatory and
should be much better known. Now, with the award of the Nobel Prize
for economics, I can hope it will be.

“Based on a survey of several thousand cases, political scientist
Elinor Ostrom has listed several basic requirements for locally
sustainable, collective environmental management (_Governing the
Commons_, Cambridge University Press, 1990, p. 90):
1. clearly defined boundaries
2. congruence between rules & local conditions
3. collective-choice arrangements
4. monitoring
5. graduated sanctions
6. conflict-resolution mechanisms
7. recognition of rights to organize
8. nested in & recognized by higher institutional levels

“As Elinor Ostrom notes for successful common property systems, ‘the
populations in these locations have remained stable over long periods
of time. Individuals have shared a past and expect to share a
future…’ (Elinor Ostrom, _Governing the Commons: The Evolution of
Institutions for Collective Action_, 1990, op. cit., p. 88).”

Perhaps because Dr Ostrom is a woman and has been studying things that
may seem “soft” her work has not received the attention it deserves. I
was surprised to read that even Paul Krugman hasn’t studied her
writings:
“I wasn’t familiar with Ostrom’s work, but even a quick scan shows why
she shared the prize: if the goal is to understand the creation of
economic institutions, it’s crucial to be aware that there is more
variety in institutions, a wider range of strategies that work, than
simply the binary divide between individuals and firms.”

She has a lot to teach us about what we share in common, both
materially and socially, and how we can maintain and improve it. Now I
await the Nobel Prize for another one of my heroines, the great
biologist Lynn Margulis.

National Academy of Science Profile of Dr Ostrom
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1748208

Congratulations from a colleague
http://crookedtimber.org/2009/10/12/the-ostrom-nobel/#more-13312

1. Ben on October 13th, 2009 at 7:54 pm

   I want to hear more about the Central Square part. Walking through I often feel it’s a tragedy of the commons. Now I want to now what its users can do to better regulate it. I’d like to sit on a bench in Central Square some day.
2. Gus Rancatore on December 8th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

   Dan Goldstein and the members of the Central Sq. Business Assoc. and the Central Square Resturant Association are working with a lot of people to improve the Square. The Cambridge Police Dept. gave an award to an officer who has helped many of the Square’s homeless find homes. The Business Association is working on cleanups and graffiti removal program. Send us any ideas you have.