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President Barack Obama welcomed statistics showing a 3.5 percent growth in the U.S. economy during the third quarter. He stated that the upturn in the nation’s gross domestic product was “an affirmation” of an abating recession while acknowledging that the road to recovery was still long. As the unemployment rate hovers just under ten percent, many Americans continue to feel the acute pain of the recession in spite of the growth in GDP. While whole communities are suffering from unemployment, foreclosures and related financial worries, the ideas of Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in economics, are finally being given their due. The political scientist from Indiana University has stressed for decades the importance of communal management of resources such as fisheries, forests, grazing lands and irrigation waters. As the debate on the economy has centered on government bailouts of private institutions, Olstrom’s research outlines alternatives to free-market solutions wealth creation and environmental sustainability. Her work refutes the “Tragedy of the Commons,” framework at a time when global warming, finite resources and growth economics are becoming increasing concerns.

GUEST: Jay Walljasper, Senior Fellow at OnTheCommons.org.

Read Jay Walljasper’s article about Ostrom: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/28-4.

Elinor Ostrom’s books:

• Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action
• Rules, Games, and Common-Pool Resources
• Understanding Knowledge as a Commons: From Theory to Practice
• The Global Commons: An Introduction
• The Commons in the New Millennium: Challenges and Adaptation
• Foundations of Social Capital