The First Woman to win Nobel Prize in Economics : Elinor Ostrom
Elinor Ostrom was a famous American political economist. She was the “first woman to win Nobel Prize in Economics”. In 2009, she was awarded for “her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons.”
She was born on 7th August, 1993 in Los Angeles, United States. Elinor used to think of herself as a poor kid. The reason was her parents had to separate when she was a child.
She used to stay most of her time with her mother who was Christian and spent weekends with her father who was Jewish by religion.
She was not so affluent those days. She used to teach swimming to students and raise the fund to pay her college fee.
During her college days, she used to participate in debate competitions. She learnt those debating tactics. This shaped her way of thinking regarding public policy. She came to know that there are always two sides to public policy. She started developing skills to make qualitative arguments for both sides.
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She had a dream of pursuing a BA in Economics, but she had to drop the idea. She had to do so because people discouraged her to study trigonometry.
During those days, girls who had low marks in geometry and algebra were not allowed to take the subject. But a strong and determined lady, Ostrom didn’t give up. In 1954, she completed her BA in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
She then married her classmate Charles Scott. Saddened to know, the relationship couldn’t last long. In the beginning, it was difficult for her to find a job. After a long search, she intended to work as an export clerk.
After a year of working as a clerk, she got a job as an assistant personnel manager in a business firm. She was the first female to get that position.
She was not allowed to apply for higher studies in economics. It was due to a lack of trigonometry in her academics portfolio. In 1962, she completed her MA in political science and Ph.D. in 1965.
After completion of her MA, in 1963 she got married to Vincent Ostrom. She met him when she was assisting in research on water resource governance in Southern California.
At first, Elinor faced difficulties to manage common-pool resources because it was used between individuals. Despite facing those difficulties, she made a study of this topic under the name “shared resources”.
In 1965, Vincent Ostrom got a job as a professor of political science at Indiana University. So they moved to Bloomington, Indiana. Elinor also started teaching the same faculty as an assistant professor.
In 1968, Biologist Garrett Hardon gave a theory called “tragedy of commons”. “Tragedy of commons” is a problem that occurs eventually when individuals undermine the well-being of society while acting in their self-interest. People start overconsuming the resources that ultimately create scarcity. The goods included are common goods that are non-excludable and rival.
In contrast to the theory, Ostrom was optimistic. She disgraced the theory in the belief that the tragedy of commons is not inevitable. In her book “Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institution for Collective Action”, she has articulated the study of irrigation systems in Spain and Nepal, a mountain village in Switzerland and Japan, and fisheries in Indonesia.
She conducted a field study in different countries on how people manage shared natural resources like pasture land, forests in small local communities.
She was able to explain how people living in society can manage scarce resources with their regulation and cooperation without the involvement of related intellectuals.
Elinor Ostrom — First Woman to win Nobel Prize in Economics
In 1973, Elinor with her husband initiated a workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. They approached public policy called Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (IAD). Under the framework, they made a study of collective trust, cooperation, and action in managing common-pool resources.
She was supported by different organizations for passable and groundbreaking steps. Some organizations are the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, National Science Foundation, Food, and Agriculture Organisation, USAID.
The core theme of the workshop is to make effective involvement of intellectuals of different realms to bring about collaborative socio-economic, political, and ecological outcomes.
Moreover, Ostrom and her team developed a framework “Social-Ecological Systems (SES)” which holds collective theories of common-pool resources and self-governance.
Ostrom’s work has always been groundbreaking for the welfare-oriented and practically proven. Based on her research regarding property rights of commons, Ostrom’s law has been defined. It states:
“A resource arrangement that works in practice can work in theory.”
Awards & Acknowledgements of Elinor Ostrom
In 1999, she was awarded John Skytte Prize in Political Science. She was the first woman to be awarded this award. In 1998, she was awarded the Frank E. Seidman Distinguished Award for Political Economy.
In 2002, the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) awarded Honorary Fellowship.
In 2004, the National Academy of Science awarded John J. Carty Award. In 2005, American Political Science Association awarded James Madison Award
In 2008, she was awarded the William H. Riker Prize in Political Science. She was the first female to receive this award. The same year, she was awarded an honorary degree from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
In 2009, she made a history of being the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. The Royal Swedish Academy of Science appreciated her work for the analysis of economic governance where the common property can be managed by a group of people.
The same year, two of the people were awarded as Nobel Laureates in Economics. The prize was divided among Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson for separate work in economic governance.
She got membership in the United States National Academy of Sciences. She became the president of the American Political Science Association.
The work was innovative and acts as a lesson that teaches how cooperation among people can solve the common resources problem without government intervention.
It is realistic, practical, and brings a huge impact in form of economic governance.
Saddened to know, a Nobel laureate, Elinor Ostrom suffered from pancreatic cancer. In 2011, she got diagnosed with cancer. At an age of 78, she died at IU Health Bloomington Hospital. The date she died was June 12, 2012.
She is an excellent example of forever-lasting hard work, dedication, curiosity. She published her article “Green from the Grassroots” on the day she died.
The first woman to win Nobel Prize in Economics, Elinor Ostrom is not now with us. Despite her physical absence,her contribution makes her mortal within humankind, economic governance, and political science.
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