Elinor Ostrom
Elinor Ostrom is a researcher who studied Public Good and Shared resources (also known as CPR or Common-pool resource). She challenged the notion that the management of public goods and CPR should be handled by either the government or the market. Instead, she argued that the most effective management of resources occurs when communities play a complementary role. Ostrom discussed the design principles that contribute to the long-term sustainability of self-governing institutions for public goods and CPR 1. These principles include: 1. Boundaries: Clear boundaries between individuals or households that extract resources from the CPR and the CPR itself.
2. Congruence with local conditions: Rules for resource appropriation are in line with local conditions.
3. Collective-choice arrangements: Most individuals affected by the operational rules can participate in modifying those rules.
4. Monitoring: Monitoring of CPR conditions and the behavior of appropriators is done by individuals who are accountable to the appropriators.
5. Graduated sanctions: Appropriators who violate the rules face graduated sanctions.
6. Conflict resolution: Low-cost means for resolving conflicts among appropriators or between appropriators and officials are available.
7. Recognition of rights to organize: The rights of appropriators to devise their own institutions are not challenged by external governmental authorities.
8. Nested enterprises: Appropriation, provision, monitoring, enforcement, and conflict resolution activities are organized in multiple layers of nested enterprises.
Through field studies, such as the management of groundwater in Los Angeles, and experimental environments using Game theory, Ostrom demonstrated the efficient management of shared resources (commons) like forests and lakes. Her research explained cooperative behavior in self-governing systems, which is also related to the self-organization of institutions 2.