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Elinor Ostrom

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Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (Canto Classics) Reissue Edition, Kindle Edition

by Elinor Ostrom (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.6 282 ratings

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The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of increasing concern to policy analysts. Both state control and privatization of resources have been advocated, but neither the state nor the market have been uniformly successful in solving common pool resource problems. After critiquing the foundations of policy analysis as applied to natural resources, Elinor Ostrom here provides a unique body of empirical data to explore conditions under which common pool resource problems have been satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily solved. Dr Ostrom uses institutional analysis to explore different ways - both successful and unsuccessful - of governing the commons. In contrast to the proposition of the 'tragedy of the commons' argument, common pool problems sometimes are solved by voluntary organizations rather than by a coercive state. Among the cases considered are communal tenure in meadows and forests, irrigation communities and other water rights, and fisheries.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is the most influential book in the last decade on thinking about the commons. For those involved with small communities...located in one nation, whose lives depend on a common pool of renewable resources....Governing the Commons has been the intellectual field guide." Whole Earth

"Students of common-property resource regimes will find much of great interest in the volume." Barry C. Field, Land Economics

"Ostrom's book makes an important contribution to the emerging literature on analytical institutional economics. Her work reminds us that analysis of institutions and institutional change is an important aspect of a broader political economy that underlies meaningful economic policy advice." Daniel W. Bromley, Journal of Economic Literature

"This is an important book that deserves to be read widely in the policy community as well as the scholarly community....this analysis leaves us with provocative questions whose examination promises to broaden and deepen our understanding of human/environment relationships at many levels." Oran R. Young, International Environmental Affairs

"In this ambitious, provocative, and very useful book Ostrom combines a lucid theoretical framework with a series of diverse and richly detailed case studies...she tightly reviews and critiques extant models of cooperation and collective action and argues powerfully that communities of actors are sometimes able to maintain a common resource for long periods of time without outside intervention." Contemporary Sociology

"Ostrom's book is an important contribution to the problems of Commom Property Resources that is, the lack of well-defined property rights over a certain resource. Elinor Ostrom convincingly shows that there are many different viable mixtures between public and private, in particular self-organization and self-governance by the users of the common property resource. The book makes fascinating reading, particularly as it is well written." Bruno S. Frey, Kyklos

"Cambridge University Press has published an impressive series called 'The Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions.' Elinor Ostrom, Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, has made an important contribution to the series with Governing the Commons....In large part, the book is a fascinating and detailed examination of common ownership of various natural resources." Dean Lueck, Constitutional Political Economy

"A classic by one of the best-known thinkers on communities and commons." Yes! A Journal of Positive Futures

"...timely, well-written, and a useful addition to our understanding of the challenges of natural resource management....useful for undergraduate and graduate students as well as field practitioners interested in the development of scientifically based research. It provides a firm grounding in the theoretical underpinnings that should guide empirical investigations....Ostrom offers a unique source of information on the realities of resource management institutions coupled with the challenge for continued examination of institutions in order to develop better ways to address the CPR challenge." Gordon L. Brady, Southern Economic Journal

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B015WJ1C8W
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; Reissue edition (September 23, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 23, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1472 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 298 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1107569788

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4.6 282 ratings

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Un francais en angleterre

We need more people like Ostrom

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2009

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I am surprised that there's little review activity going on for this book, even though the author has won the "fake nobel" prize (i.e. the "price in memory of alfred nobel" for economy). Regardless of what one thinks about the fake nobel, the author is certainly someone whose achievements deserve recognition. This book is a pedagogical summary of the important work that she's done in relation to "Common Pool Resources".

It is written in an accurate and scientific style that never falls into the jargon trap. This gives a vivid impression of the author as someone open minded and keeping her thinking clear and focused on the facts.

After an introduction on her intentions and method, she presents the so called "tragedy of the commons" (and its close kin, the "prisoner's dilemna") as a situation where theoretical thinking sees central intervention as the only way to break the (self)destructive behaviour predicted and often observed: everyone tries to appropriate as much as they can get away from common resources until those resources collapse and everyone becomes worse off. She then calls attention to several field situations where individuals have been able to organize themselves to avoid falling into this trap without external intervention. The situations described are as diverse as mountain terrain in Switzerland, irrigation land in Spain and the Philippines or even fisheries in Turkey. Ostrom provides a detailed description of the salient features of these institutions before highlighting the common ground and the differences. She points out that these examples have institutions that have been stable for a long time and that we're therefore unsure about the process through which the institutions themselves were created.

She then turns to more recent examples of successful institutions managing CPR where information is available regarding the institutional development that led to the current situation. The key examples are water management institutions in California and a project to improve local irrigation communities in Sri Lanka. She finally contrasts successful institutions with failing ones, with a view to identify whether factors that may have been thought of as being factors of success may not actually be irrelevant.

The overall message of the book is that it is possible for local communities to take care of themselves and to efficiently manage CPR. It is not easy though and certain type of government intervention actually makes the matter worse. Likewise privatization is also not a one size fits all solution. So she's basically highlighting the need to consider each situation on its own, without ideological glasses. She provides a framework to analyze each specific case, but certainly avoids over-generalization.

The world needs more people like Ostrom, (i.e. lucid thinkers genuinely interested to understand what goes on). Too bad the typical social "scientist" seems to be more interested to bend the facts to fit to his theories and ideologies.

20 people found this helpful

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Douglas Winslow Cooper

How to Prevent "The Tragedy of the Commons"

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2018

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Resources jointly held by many, especially those that are susceptible to use by "free riders" who contribute nothing to the creation and maintenance of the resource, present fertile ground for "the tragedy of the commons," where the common pool resource (CPR) is depleted by over-use and under-support.

Elinor Ostrom won the prize in economics analogous to the Nobel Prize in other fields. She was awarded this because of her ground-breaking work in studying the management of common pool resources worldwide, resources like water basins of California, fisheries off Nova Scotia, grazing lands and farming lands jointly held in foreign lands.

Ostrom describes successful ventures and unsuccessful ones, and she gives some guidance on how to manage the commons and under which conditions that management is likely to succeed when done very locally, or bottom-up.

Throughout, the book is highly readable and heavily documented.

10 people found this helpful

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Richard Ells

Exceptionally valuable book on cooperative resource management

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2016

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Governing the Commons is an excellent exploration of how people can work together to manage shared, limited resources. It is a bit of a heavy read, but I found it very worthwhile. One of its basic points is that the Garret Hardin "Tragedy of the Commons" idea is not inevitable. There are many examples of communities setting up stable, long term institutions for managing common resources such as water supplies, fisheries, and forests. Ostrom outlines the interaction between local private initiatives, administrative organizations such as water districts, and legal frameworks provided by government. She also describes how favoritism, bribery, and corruption to thwart such efforts. A very good read for anyone thinking along the lines of "Think Global, Act Local."

12 people found this helpful

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Nick Donovan

Solid Work with many New, Good Ideas, but Suffers Slightly from Length and Style

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2013

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Overall, this is a great entry by Elinor Ostrum. She gives relevant background stories and information about the issue of "The Commons".

Ostrum's main idea is that a blend of a private property regime and state/government approach is the best way to govern the commons and prevent over-withdrawal (i.e. over-fishing, etc). She stresses the importance of local knowledge in setting up systems and fostering trust between the governors and those who are governed. However, the state's use of scientific knowledge and its ability to enforce the boundaries efficiently and strictly are of significance as well.

Unfortunately, the work suffers from a muddling of ideas. Ostrum argues against the separate two approaches as an to portray her idea as a fair balance, but sometimes it's unclear why she discusses some points or uses some example.

A good read if you have the time and can sift through schemes and organize them.

2 people found this helpful

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Quinton Zondervan

Absolutely brilliant!

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2017

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In this remarkable book, the author presents detailed case studies and a theoretical framework for how communities can manage common resources. She literally provides the counter argument to the tragedy of the commons. Some of the examples she describes are shared resources that have been successfully managed by the people using them for thousands of years! This is a must read for anyone seeking knowledge about how to create durable institutions that can help us preserve valuable natural resources while benefiting from them economically at the same time.

13 people found this helpful

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Daniel McIntosh

You should know who Elanor Ostrom was.

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2019

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Nobel prize-winner, expert on the spontaneous development of customs to regulate activity in the "commons." Despite what you may have read, the "tragedy of the commons" is NOT inevitable. In fact, it very rarely happens in the real world. This book explains why.

5 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Unbelievable number of typos in an otherwise outstanding book.

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2015

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This is a fantastic book that dispels a lifetime of wrong notions about common resource issues. The only puzzling thing about the book is the incredible number of typos! I have never read a book containing so many problems with the editing. It makes following a complex argument that much more difficult when I have to try to interpret what every typo really means. You may want to try the other edition.

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Mert

Excellent Read (from someone who was forced to read it)

Reviewed in Canada on November 9, 2022

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Extremely insightful and real life case studies covered by Ostrom in this book. I was forced to read this in an upper-year Public Policy Economics course at University, and it is what I would consider to be my favourite read out of all four of my years studying.

Excellent read by and excellent author.

Cliente Amazon

Serviço perfeito!

Reviewed in Brazil on June 1, 2022

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Serviço perfeito! Produto dispensa apresentações.

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Shubham Chowdhury

Photocopied version

Reviewed in India on September 3, 2020

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Received a photocopied / pirated version (quite clear from the low quality paper and tilted print). Did not return it because the information was there, but WAY too overpriced for a shoddy reproduction.

2 people found this helpful

DSS

Imprescindible

Reviewed in Spain on January 4, 2016

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Interesantísimo. Excelente mezcla de análisis teórico y práctico. Una mirada diferente sobre una cuestión mucho más relevante de lo que pueda parecer a primera vista. Un clásico que merece serlo

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Athan

Superb

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 29, 2014

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Elinor Ostrom won the Nobel for her work on common-pool resources, so this book represents Economics orthodoxy on the topic.

It does not disappoint.

Presumably to get us interested, the author starts backwards, taking us through three examples of simple theories that predict common-pool resources will always perish: the "prisoner's dilemma," the "tragedy of the commons" and the "logic of collective action."

From there she goes on to explain how a common-pool resource differs from a public good like national defence or public safety: First, if my cow is grazing on a meadow, it's eating grass that won't be there for your cow to eat. Second, by dint of competing with one another to extract fish from a lake, we could be doing so at the expense of our future ability to fish from the lake. National defence, on the other hand (a public good, rather than a common-pool resource) is there for all of us to fully take advantage of and does not perish through the tragedy of the commons. A common-pool resource is thus defined (p.30) as a "stock" of variables that can produce a maximum quantity of "flow" variable without harming the "stock" or the system, with the added complications that 1. it could be costly to monitor / police / limit the "appropriation" of the "flow" 2. it could be costly to ensure the continued "provision" of this common-pool resource itself (for example, a community might need to keep a dam in good shape)

Next, the author politely points out that the three game-theoretical constructs which predict the demise of all common-poor resources are far too abstract and proceeds to disprove them by counterexample, listing a number of thriving examples of common-pool resources that 1. have stood the test of time and 2. are isolated and simple enough for us to examine without having any second thoughts as to whether our analysis is complete: High mountain meadows and forests in Switzerland and Japan, irrigation institutions in Spain and the Philippines are described in great detail, and their common characteristics are summarized as follows:

1. Clearly defined boundaries
2. Congruence between local conditions and the rules governing "provision" and "appropriation" of the common-pool resource
3. Collective choice arrangements whereby those who use the common-pool resource have voice in establishing or modifying the rules
4. Monitoring that is, at a minimum, accountable to the appropriators
5. Graduated sanctions for rule-breakers
6. Conflict-resolution mechanisms
7. The right of appropriators to organise must not be challenged by outside authorities
8. For larger common-pool resources there is a need for multiple layers of nested enterprises to take care of "provision," "appropriation," "monitoring," "enforcement," "resolution," "government" etc.

It's a formidable list, but it's not exhaustive. In the spirit of Douglass North and Mancur Olson, the author next introduces a further factor in the equation, and that's the contribution that government institutions have to make to common-pool resources by means of providing technological expertise and a helpful legal framework that will jointly act to support, help shape and enforce the decisions of the agents who engage in the provision and appropriation of the common-pool resource. The example here comes from a very thorough examination of how institutional change was made possible in the case of a number of rather diverse groundwater basins in California in the 1950's and 60's.

A long list of failures comes under the microscope next: two Turkish fisheries, yet another Californian groundwater basin, a (totally fascinating) Sri Lankan fishery (p.151), followed by a couple borderline cases in Sri Lanka and Canada. They are all checked against the list, with a summary (p.180) of successes and failures that makes for some very persuasive reading.

Rather than declare some type of "breakthrough," the book closes with an extremely humble assessment of the quandary facing participants in common-pool resources and an attempt to describe a general framework for assessing the potential for success through their eyes: the size, variability, quality and longevity of the benefits that will flow to the potential appropriators must be weighed against the costs inherent in helping out with "provision," the transformation costs, the monitoring and enforcement costs, the information costs and the potential for positive institutional change. The author submits that in her opinion the following factors are most conducive to a positive decision to adopt a new rule / participate in a proposed solution:

1. Looming harm if the rule is not adopted/changed to save the resource
2. Appropriators will be affected in similar ways if a rule is adopted/changed
3. Low discount rates
4. Low information, transformation, monitoring and enforcement costs
5. Pre-existing social capital (e.g.in the form of norms or reciprocity and trust)
6. A relatively small and stable group appropriating from the common-pool resource

I'll be totally honest, I read this entire book with an eye toward analysing the European common currency as a common-pool resource, but in the end I was captivated by the theory itself. Even if I never apply this knowledge to anything, I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Governing the Commons." I was entertained and challenged in equal measure.

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Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (Canto Classics) Reissue Edition, Kindle Edition

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