Managing common pool resources

Let’s think again about public transportation. When you are afraid of the ticket inspector, it means that you are afraid of the sanction. When you think that it is unfair not to contribute to public transport, then a social norm comes to the fore. However there are other ways of thinking about the solutions to the problem of free riding and to the problems related to using shared resources.

A scientist who devoted many years to the problem of avoiding the tragedy of the commons, and who was honored the Nobel Prize for this work in 2009, was Elinor Ostrom. It is worth adding that she was the first woman in Economics who received this award!

Please watch a short clip about her contribution to the discussion about social traps in common goods management.

Ostrom’s work