Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom
When Elinor Ostrom was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics last year, the common response in the media was “Who’s that?” Not surprising, because Ostrom is a political scientist, primarily, not an economist, and had devoted her life to studying the way local communities organize to preserve common property resources.
The current issue of Yes! magazine features an interview with Ostrom, conducted by editor Fran Korten, who states in the introduction that they are old friends. Here’s the link.
I first learned about Ostrom’s work in the ’90s, when I read her book Governing the Commons. That was when I was first developing my ideas about the basic income guarantee, and I wrote about her work in my first book on Citizen Dividends.
When everyone has a basic income for food and shelter, guaranteed, it will be easier for everyone to participate as citizens in making good decisions to protect common properties. This is just one of many ways that Citizen Dividends will, at the same time, liberate and empower individuals, and protect and enrich our environment. Individual liberty and free markets, serving social and environmental goals. A synthesis of left and right.
So I was delighted to hear about Ostrom winning the Nobel.
Steven Shafarman