![\"elinor](\"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/a\/p\/rids\/20091012\/i\/r4115665004.jpg?x=248&y=345&q=85&sig=RGYa2HjcmWH8hfzZwR1UVQ--\")
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\u2019s gross domestic product was \u201can affirmation\u201d 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\u2019s research outlines alternatives to free-market solutions wealth creation and environmental sustainability. Her work refutes the \u201cTragedy of the Commons,\u201d framework at a time when global warming, finite resources and growth economics are becoming increasing concerns. <\/p>\n
GUEST: Jay Walljasper, Senior Fellow at OnTheCommons.org<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n