wiegie Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Ostrom, Williamson Win Nobel Prize for Economics .ArticleComments (26)more in World ».EmailPrinter By JUSTIN LAHART and DAVID WESSEL Two American economists, Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson, who study the way decisions are made outside the markets on which many other economists focus, were awarded the Nobel Prize in economics Monday. Ms. Ostrom, who teaches at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., is the first woman to win the prize, which, before Monday, had been awarded to 62 men since it was launched in 1969 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Swedish central bank. The judges cited "her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons," the way in which natural resources are managed as shared resources. It is an area of research that she said was relevant to questions surrounding global warming, and suggests that decisions by individuals can help solve the problem even as governments work to reach an international agreement. Ms. Ostrom "challenged the conventional wisdom that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatized," the Nobel judges said. "Based on numerous studies of user-managed fish stocks, pastures, woods, lakes, and groundwater basins, [Ms.] Ostrom concludes that the outcomes are, more often than not, better than predicted by standard theories. She observes that resource users frequently develop sophisticated mechanisms for decision-making and rule enforcement to handle conflicts of interest, and she characterizes the rules that promote successful outcomes." Ms. Ostrom, who was interviewed by phone during the announcement press conference in Stockholm, described the prize as "an immense surprise," and said, "I'm still a little bit in shock." Her doctorate is in political science, but she considers herself a political economist. Mr. Williamson, who is at the University of California at Berkeley, was cited for "for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm" -- the reason some economic decisions are made at arm's length in markets and others are made inside a corporation. "The drawback of markets is that they often entail haggling and disagreement," the judges said. "The drawback of firms is that authority, which mitigates contention, can be abused. Competitive markets work relatively well because buyers and sellers can turn to other trading partners in case of dissent. But when market competition is limited, firms are better suited for conflict resolution than markets. A key prediction of [Mr.] Williamson's theory, which has also been supported empirically, is therefore that the propensity of economic agents to conduct their transactions inside the boundaries of a firm increases along with the relationship-specific features of their assets." The economics prize is the only one of the six Nobel prizes not created in Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's 1896 will, and is officially known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The two economists will share a 10 million kronor prize (about $1.4 million). Ms. Ostrom said she hopes to devote the proceeds to supporting research and graduate students. Having Ostrom get it is somewhat surprising, Williamson getting it is not surprising. (Interesting (personal) story about Williamson, he somewhat indirectly gave me the idea I used for my Ph.D. dissertation. I was seated next to him at a conference dinner about ten years ago and we were talking about my research. He made a comment that got me to thinking about what I wanted to do and the rest is history.) As for Ostrom, I am familiar with her work because I do research in institutional economics, but most of my colleagues had never heard of her. Her work is typically a cross between political science and economics and I think it is very important, but I am pretty surprised that she got the Nobel Prize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MojoMan Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Why are they referring to them as Ms. and Mr.? Isn't it Dr. or Professor? They are talking about their professional accomplishments, not a FFL championship or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 (edited) Apparently not everyone agrees that they should have won. Edited October 12, 2009 by Perchoutofwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MojoMan Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Apparently not everyone agrees that they should have won. Two words - hanging chads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimC Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Fess up...I'm not the only highly turned on by this woman. She can reconcile my checkbook anytime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westvirginia Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Fess up...I'm not the only highly turned on by this woman. She can reconcile my checkbook anytime. She looks taller than weigie... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whomper Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Fess up...I'm not the only highly turned on by this woman. She can reconcile my checkbook anytime. If I ever met her it would be the perfect time to use the often thought of hardly used " Hey lady George Washington called, he wants his teeth back" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_gop_liars Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Fess up...I'm not the only highly turned on by this woman. She can reconcile my checkbook anytime. She would look a lot better if she shaved the beard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Neutron Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 ... but I am pretty surprised that she got the Nobel Prize. There's been a bit of that going around lately... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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