Ostrom and Williamson will share the $1.4m prize for economics [EPA]

Elinor Ostrom defied conventional wisdom with studies that showed that user-managed properties - such as community fish stocks or woodland areas - more often than not were better run than standard theories predicted.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded her half the $1.4m prize, with the other half going to Oliver Williamson, a fellow American, who was recognised for his separate analysis of conflict resolution by firms and markets.

Ostrom, 76, said: "There are many, many people who have struggled mightily and to be chosen for this prize is a great honour and I'm still a little bit in shock."

'Inspire women'

Explaining her theories, the Indiana University professor said: "Since we have found that bureaucrats sometimes do not have the correct information while citizens and users of resources do, we hope it helps encourage a sense of capacity and power."

Professor Tore Ellingsen, a member of the academy, said: "I hope that it will be inspiring for women researchers that you don't have to be a male in order to win the economics prize.

"You have to look back and notice how few women have reached senior professor positions in economics, and also given the prize is awarded for work at least 20-years old."

Ostrom, whose work was partly inspired by Williamson, gathered her most important research in a 1990 book called Governing the Commons: the Evolution for Collective Action.

Williamson, 77, did much of his key work in the 1970s.

He showed how hierarchical organisations could thrive because they are effective at resolving conflicts and in some ways were more efficient than market-based systems.

But he also argued that problems could emerge when executive authority was abused, making such systems less productive.

"Over the last three decades, these seminal contributions have advanced economic governance research from the fringe to the forefront of scientific attention," the awarding committee said in a statement.

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:

Be first to comment this article

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
E-mail
Homepage
Title:
BBCode:
Comment:
Code:*
	I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.4