Elinor Claire Ostrom was an American political economist and a leading theorist of new institutional economics. She was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in economics in recognition, particularly, for her analysis of the economic governance of the commons. Wyn Grant wrote of her work, “Ostrom sought to find solutions to the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’, exploring the prisoners’ dilemma and using game theoretic reasoning in an innovative way. She attempted to provide alternatives to standard and narrowly constructed models of rational choice. She emphasised that it was important to incorporate actors ‘self-understanding of their roles and their conceptions of proper or acceptable behaviour in particular contexts.’”

Institutions and the Environment (2008)

The Future of the Commons: beyond market failure and government intervention (2012)