Elinor Ostrom, 1st Woman Nobelist in Economics
A concise background for Elinor Ostrom (from Tufts):
Elinor Ostrom is Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science at the Indiana University. Her work concerns collective decisions and voluntary cooperation. In laboratory experiments, she studies when and how human beings cooperate. As a formal theorist, she has contributed essential insights to our understanding of collective action and collective choice. She has also collaborated with and advised nonprofit organizations in many countries as they address practical issues. These collaborations have enriched her formal theory and her scientific research. She has founded and directed institutes that combine theory, empirical research, practice, and the analysis of policy. The contexts of her research have ranged from traditional agricultural practices to policing in urban America to the Internet as a 'commons.' As a teacher, a college administrator, and a leader of institutions, she has been a civic educator and has advocated for civic education. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and former president of both the American Political Science Association and the Midwest Political Science Association.
"I assume multiple types of players - 'rational egoists,' as well as 'conditional cooperators' and 'willing punishers' - in models of nonmarket behavior. I use an indirect evolutionary approach to explain how multiple types of players could survive and flourish in social dilemma situations. Contextual variables that enhance knowledge about past behavior assist in explaining the origin of collective action. Among the important contextual variables are types of goods, types of groups, and rules that groups use to provide and allocate goods. Finally, I reexamine a series of design principles that were derived earlier from an examination of extensive case materials."
There's a photograph of Elinor Ostrom at the Nobel site delivering a lecture at Indiana University, Bloomington, July 2008.
Beyond sharing the Nobel for Economics (the first prize so awarded to a woman), she's received in the same year the 2009 Reimar Lüst Award for International Scholarly and Cultural Exchange, which recognizes humanities and social-science scholars for contributions to cultural and academic relations with Germany.
In addition, what follows are a number of her other awards and honors:
Beijer Fellow, The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, Sweden, 2007.
Honorary Doctorate, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, 2007. Honorary Doctorate in Commemoration of Carl Linnaeus, Uppsala University, Sweden, 2007.
Cozzarelli Prize, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2006.
APSA, Political Economy Section, William Riker Award for Understanding Institutional Diversity, 2006.
Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2006.
Member, American Philosophical Society, Elected 2006.
James Madison Award, American Political Science Association, 2005.
Sustainability Science Award, Ecological Society of America, 2005.
Honorary Doctorate, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, 2005.
John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Sciences, 2004.
Lifetime Achievement Award, Atlas Economic Research Foundation, 2003.
Honorary Doctorate, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, 2002.
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Elected September 2001.
Member, National Academy of Sciences, Elected May 2001.
APSA, Public Policy Section, Aaron Wildavsky Enduring Contribution Award for Governing the Commons, 2000.
Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science, Uppsala University, 1999.
Honorary Doctorate in Economics, University of Zurich, 1999. Thomas R. Dye Service Award for outstanding service to the Policy Studies Organization, December 1997.
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