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Elinor Ostrom breaks Nobel mould

The economics profession needs to be shaken up. Ostrom's Nobel prize should encourage us to take a fresh approach

Kevin Gallagher
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday 13 October 2009 17.00 BST

The economics profession is in such disarray that one of the Nobel prizes in economics this year went to political scientist Elinor Ostrom - the first woman to be awarded the economics prize. This is an excellent choice (in any year) not only because of what Ostrom has contributed to social theory but also because of how she goes about her work.

In a nutshell, Ostrom won the Nobel prize for showing that privatising natural resources is not the route to halting environmental degradation.

In most economics classes the environment is usually taught as being the victim of the "tragedy of the commons". If one assumes, like many economists do, that individuals are ruthlessly selfish individuals, and you put those individuals onto a commonly owned resource, the resource will eventually be destroyed. The solution: privatise the commons. Everyone will have ownership of small parcels and treat that parcel better than when they shared it.

Many environmental experts also reject the tragedy of the commons argument and say the government should step in.

Ostrom says the government may not be the best allocator of public resources either. Often governments are seen as illegitimate, or their rules cannot be enforced. Indeed, Ostrom's life work looking at forests, lakes, groundwater basins and fisheries shows that the commons can be an opportunity for communities themselves to manage a resource.

In her classic work Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Ostrom shows that under certain conditions, when communities are given the right to self-organise they can democratically govern themselves to preserve the environment.

At the policy level, Ostrom's findings give credence to the many indigenous and peasant movements across the developing world where people are trying to govern the land they have managed for centuries but run into conflict with governments and global corporations. Some economists on the frontier of their discipline have started to use Ostrom's insights in their work. In their recent book Reclaiming Nature: Environmental Justice and Ecological Restoration, James Boyce, Liz Stanton and Sunita Narain, show how communities in Brazil, India, West Africa and even in the United States have managed their resources in a sustainable manner when given their rightful access to their assets.

Indeed, Boyce and his collaborators find that communities should be paid for their services, since they can sometimes do a far better job than government or corporations at managing resources. Indeed, "payment for environmental services" has become a buzzword in development circles. Now even the World Bank has a fund for PES schemes across the world.

In terms of methodology, Ostrom proves her findings three times over. As opposed to many economists who never leave the blackboard, Ostrom often conducts satellite analyses of resource depletion to measure amounts of degradation. Second, she actually goes out into the field and performs case studies of human and ecological behaviour all across the world. However, she doesn't stop there. When she gets back from her fieldwork she conducts behavioural experiments to see if random subjects replicate her findings in the field.

The Nobel committee should be applauded for recognising such rigorous theoretical and empirical work. Shining light on Ostrom is a call to economists to spend a lot more time analysing human behaviour, rather than assuming that we are all rational selfish individuals. It is also a call on economists to become more empirical and to find ways to validate their theories.

Adopting Ostrom's approach will not only help us forge a better relationship with the natural environment, but will help us become more realistic about the economy in general. It's time for a fresh approach to both.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
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USSEE is publishing Ecological Economics Reviews

As many of you have heard, the USSEE is publishing Ecological Economics Reviews in collaboration with the NY Academy of Sciences. We wanted to give you an update on the status of the first issue. It will be published in January of 2010 with 16 papers. You can find the table of contents at http://www.nyas.org/ecoeco We would like to thank those of you who reviewed or submitted papers to the first issue. Your contributions were greatly appreciated. We look forward to seeing additional submissions from you and your colleagues in future issues.

Applications for U.S. Fulbright Scholar Awards and a Distinguished Chair Award in Brazil (pdf)

The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is the U.S. government\u2019s flagship international exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 286,000 participants from over 155 countries with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. For more information, visit us online.

6th Edition of Biogas

The 6th edition of Biogas is taking place on the 1-2 October in San Francisco. The event brings together over 30 top level speakers who will share best practice case studies of agri, waste, landfill, sewage and wastewater biogas, providing an excellent platform for networking, knowledge transfer and new business development.

Learn from leading project developers, utilities, financiers and policy makers, including:

  • David Albers, President, BioEnergy Solutions
  • Philip Brown, President & Chief Executive Officer, Diversified Energy
  • Kevin Best, Chief Executive Officer, RealEnergy
  • Brian Gannon, President, Biogas Energy
  • Mitch Pratt, Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary, Clean Energy
  • Ken Brennan, Senior Project Manager, Business Development, Pacific Gas & Electric
  • Martha Krebs, Deputy Director, California Energy
  • Jeff Reed, Director of Market Development & Emerging Technology, San Diego Gas & Electric
  • Chris Voell, Program Manager, EPA AgSTAR
  • Steve Wilburn, President, Firm Green Energy
  • William Zobel, Clean Transportation Program Manager, Sempra Utilities
  • Jason Patrick, Vice President, Merrill Lynch Commodities
  • Paul Douglas, Supervisor, Renewable Procurement and Resource Planning, California Public Utility Commission

Click here to view the event agenda
Click here to download a brochure

Don't miss this opportunity to network with and question leading market experts during 2 days of high level debate Register Now!

DISCCRS V: Interdisciplinary Climate Change Research Symposium

March 3-20, 2010
Tonto National Forest near Phoenix, Arizona, USA

The DISCCRS V Symposium will be held March 3-20, 2010 in the Tonto National Forest near Phoenix Arizona. Eligibility: Ph.D. completed April 1, 2007 - July 31, 2009 on any discipline related to climate change or impacts.

Application Instructions at http://www.disccrs.org/symphelp.html
Application Deadline: August 31, 2009

The 350 Teach-In / National Climate Seminar / Scientific American on NTI!

This fall, a few US Senators will determine the fate of the earth.  Should the Senate fail to pass global warming legislation, it will no longer be possible to hold global warming to the low end of 4 degrees F. 

Not possible.

Please take a moment and pass this e-mail along to every faculty member, staff or student at a college, high-school or K-8 program who cares about climate change.

This fall, The National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions is providing two ways to involve your class and campus in this critical debate: a bi-weekly national seminar on solutions, and a 90-minute International Teach-In (10/22) focused on “350”.

The National Climate Seminar.

On September 9th Dr. Dallas Burtraw of Resources for the Future will launch a bi-weekly, national phone conversation featuring top climate scientists, political leaders, and policy analysts.  Burtraw will provide key insights into the House and Senate legislation. In later weeks, look to hear from Dr. Steve Schneider, Bill McKibben, the Honorable Edward Markey, Hunter Lovins, Andy Revkin and others.
 
Hosted by the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, the half-an-hour seminars will be available live to educators, students and citizens across the country. Questions for the presenters can be submitted on-line prior to the seminar, and all conversations will be available in podcast. Click here for seminar details.

5th Annual Brussels Climate Change Conference
Getting Into Lane for Copenhagen

organized by CEPS (The Centre for European Policy Studies) and Epsilon

SAVE THE DATE!
20th & 21st October 2009 - Renaissance Hotel, Brussels

This conference will sketch out the state of the EU's preparation for a global agreement on climate change, and will review different countries' positions and priorities towards the deal, with participation from both industrialised and developing countries. There will also be a debate with policymakers and stakeholders reviewing the market mechanisms and sectoral approaches being taken.

This conference will be an opportunity for stakeholders and the key policy and political personnel to come together to engage on these important issues at a critical time.

Confirmed keynote speaker: Jos Delbeke, Deputy Director General, DG Environment, European Commission

Plus representation from the governments of:
USA - China - Japan - Australia - Russia - India - Mexico - Brazil

Additional speakers are confirming regularly. Places are limited and early registration is recommended.

Register today:
- Online
- By contacting James Wilmott on +44 (0) 2920 783 022

If you are interested in attending or sponsoring this conference please contact James Wilmott using the details above or download the sponsorship prospectus.

Founded in Brussels in 1983, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) is among the most experienced and authoritative think tanks operating in the European Union today. CEPS serves as a leading forum for debate on EU affairs, but its most distinguishing feature lies in its strong in-house research capacity, complemented by an extensive network of partner institutes throughout the world.

Online registration available where you will also find full registration costs including discounts.

Sustainability Stakeholder Engagement

September 14-15
New York City, New York, USA

Click here if you want to be updated on this event.

Stakeholder engagement is an essential part of building an organization's sustainability credibility. Corporations are facing increasing scrutiny from investors, customers, NGOs and communities about their carbon and energy management. Just recently, Chevron bowed to shareholder demands to track its carbon footprint and Home Depot faced a shareholder vote on its energy plan.

This event offers practical insight on what works and what doesn’t work when trying to engage with shareholders, customers, NGOs and communities on sustainability issues. It also offers a roadmap on how to identify and prioritize stakeholders and their influence.

Speakers include senior representatives from:

Benjamin Moore * Nestle Waters * AFL-CIO * Sierra Club * Seventh Generation * ITT * Max Gladwell * Sprint * SAP * Environmental Defense Fund * The Brand Architect * Virgance * MeadWestvaco * Sharp * Climate Counts * Wallace Partners * Trucost * Future500 * NFL * The Stakeholder Score * Corporate Citizenship * and more

Check out our program and be sure to register soon.

Fulbright Scholar Program for US Faculty and Professionals for 2010-2011 is open.

The Fulbright Scholar Program offers 105 awards in lecturing, research or combined lecturing/research in economics, including seven Fulbright Distinguished Chairs and the Middle East and North Africa Regional Research Program. Even better, faculty and professionals in economics also can apply for one of the 144 “All Discipline” awards open to all fields.

The application deadline is August 1, 2009. U.S. citizenship is required. For a full listing of all Fulbright programs and other eligibility requirements, please visit our website at www.cies.org or send a request for materials to scholars@cies.iie.org. Click here for a detailed listing of Fulbright opportunities in economics.

International Society for Ecological Economics Listed as a Resource in a New Academic Guidance Document for Sustainability Education

Second Nature has recently released Education for Climate Neutrality and Sustainability: Guidance for ACUPCC Institutions, a document created to assist American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) signatory schools in implementing the educational component of the commitment. I am writing to provide you with a copy of this document (see link above) and to thank you for your invaluable contribution of a useful resource for education for climate neutrality and sustainability, as noted in the Resources section of the document, p. 43 – 50.

ACUPCC signatories recognize that providing sustainability education to the leaders of tomorrow, so that they can develop ongoing solutions to the threat of significant climate disruption, is as important as, and a necessary component of, eliminating their school’s contribution to global warming pollution. To that end, they have committed to take “actions to make climate neutrality and sustainability a part of the curriculum and other educational experience for all students.”

Many colleges and universities are realizing the importance of sustainability education. This aspect of campus sustainability has the most far-reaching impacts, yet it is also the most challenging aspect of advancing sustainability in higher education. Higher education plays a unique and critical role, one often overlooked, in making a healthy, just and sustainable society and a stable climate a reality. It prepares most of the professionals who develop, lead, manage, teach, work in, and influence society’s institutions, including the most basic foundation of K-12 education. It is largely responsible for developing the conceptual models of society’s leaders and professionals that have, unwittingly, led to the unsustainable situation in which society finds itself.

Your resource will provide helpful guidance to colleges and universities in providing sustainability education to all students and in creating the conceptual models for society that will lead us to a sustainable world.