Ostrom is finding it hard managing her time following the announcement of the Nobel Prize for Economic Science this year. She has been giving interviews to nearly half a dozen newspapers every day. “It is difficult to accept invitations from all,” she told to Republica on Friday. “But I must be polite to all.” [break]
A professor of Political Science at Indiana University in the USA, Ostrom shared the Nobel Prize for Economics this year with another American, Oliver Williamson. She has garnered extensive experience of field research in various countries including Nepal, Nigeria and Kenya.
Elinor Ostrom has challenged the conventional wisdom that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatized. Based on numerous studies of user-managed fish stocks, pastures, woods, lakes and groundwater basins, Ostrom concludes that the outcomes are, more often than not, better than predicted by standard market theories.
Ostrom said she was ´extremely happy´ at the news that she had been awarded a Nobel. More than that, she said she remembered the place of her field study, Nepal, the most. “Of course, I remember Nepal,” she told Republica.
She said she had long discussions with her Nepali colleagues Prachanda Pradhan and Ganesh Siwakoti during her research work in Nepal. “We had long and very interesting discussions,” she added.
Besides Pradhan and Siwakoti, Ostrom worked together with various other Nepali colleagues. She studied the management of irrigation systems by farmers in various parts of Nepal.
“Nepali farmers have enhanced traditional knowledge,” she said. She expressed hope that she will get a chance to again meet those she worked with in course of her research here.
Ostrom said she has continued with her research on Nepal. She plans to publish in book form in July 2010 all the research she has done with the help of Nepali scholars. “We are currently working on the book,” she said. “I have given continuity to that study.”
She said she did most of her research on natural resource management in Nepal. “Local resources are better managed by local people than by external people,” she added.
Ostrom remembered that Prachanda Pradhan was the first person to extend help during her research work. “All of them were quite good colleagues,” she said, remembering all who helped with her work in Nepal.
An Economic Governance report prepared by the Royal Swedish Academy has cited Nepal´s irrigation system as an example. Irrigation in Nepal is a striking case where locally managed systems have successfully allocated water between users for a long time, she said. However, the dams built from stone, mud and trees had often proved primitive and small.
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