Updating the Theory of Collective Action and the Commons

Abstract

Dr. Elinor Ostrom gave this lecture on the commons and the theory of collective action on March 1, 2012, which was held in the Black Cultural Center and open to the public. Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom was the first, and to date, the only woman to win the prize in economics, which has been awarded since 1969; Ostrom won in 2009. She was known for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons, and for developing -- along with her olleagues at the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University -- the Institutional Analysis and Development framework, which enables them to analyze diversely structured markets, hierarchies, common-property regimes and local public economies using a common set of universal components. Dr. Ostrom passed away from pancreatic cancer June 12, 2012.