The Commons and the Nobel Prize

Fantastic news this evening as it is announced that Professor Elinor Ostrom is the joint winner of the Nobel Prize for economics. As a champion of the commons, she has contributed hugely to the idea that commons work when properly regulated. The idea of the commons as opposed to the private realm is of fundamental importance in the debate about how we manage natural resources and organise economic activity. News report from the FT here together with video interview with Martin Wolf, the FT’s Chief Economics commentator trying to make sense of what most mainstream economists have ignored for far too long. A useful background briefing from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences here.