Elinor Ostrom, a former professor at the Indiana University was the first female to win a Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences. This captured my attention immediately when beginning my research for this Econ 490 post because of my interest in women in leadership positions, especially within my major of economics.
I read a few biographies and notes regarding Elinor Ostroms career, but the most powerful one came from a rememberance site by Indiana University. One of the reasons that I felt I connected with the post most was because it directly linked Elinor Ostrom to the Economics of Organizations. Her prize winning research was regarding how ordinary people can set up rules and institutions that allow shared resources to be managed. Economics of Organizations is a key field of study because it is theory on real life phenomenons, Elinor Ostrom did research to justify how exactly these phenomenas happen.
"Economics is the study of how people satisfy unlimited wants with scarce resources". My high school AP Economics teacher defined Economics as that on the first day of class, I have never forgetten it since then and it is how I start off all of my Economic class notes each semester. It is what guides the principles of how our everyday actions occur. Elinor Ostrom recieved numerous awards, some including the Time 100 in 2012,for working cross-functionally and cross-disciplinary to explain how economic theory such as the Tragedy of the Commons works in action in real life.
Upon my research on Elinor Ostrom, it wasn't her upbringing or academic background that blew me away, but her ability to apply economic theory and principles to explain why organizations and society functions the way it does. She demonstrates the significance of putting economics into action which I found to be intriguing and relatable.
I hope to take Elinor Ostrom's approach of applied economics and search to bridge the connection between economic theory and the real world when studying Econ 490 as well as in my career going forward beyond graduation.
Note that Ostrom shared the Nobel with Oliver Williamson. Their work overlaps, but some would say Ostrom was more of a political scientist. This issue regarding the boundary between fields probably matters more than it really should. But it given that it is there, when talking about governance as a way to manage transaction costs, most economists would think of Williamson first.
ReplyDeleteAs to the definition of economics your High School teacher gave, scarcity is certainly basic to economics but unlimited wants is not and may not be a correct description of reality. How else does one explain that many of the uber rich, Bill and Melinda Gates are probably the best known example, set up foundations for the purpose of philanthropy? There are so many others for whom even basic needs are not satisfied to explain scarcity, without an appeal to unlimited needs.
Interesting perspective on that. I think the concept my teacher was portraying was that people will always want more, you are never satisfied with what you have. The example being, you could have a piece of pizza now, but eventually you will want another one.
DeleteThank you for the valuable insigh on the Ostrom and Williamson work, I will definetly look more into the actual Nobel prize work they did as it sounds very intriguing.