Nobel Prize 2009 in Economics

John Lunn: Nobel Prize 2009

The Nobel Prize in economics has been awarded to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson. The academy offers a statement for the public on the significance of the research, which can be found here, and a more detailed paper on the significance meant more for economists, which can be found here. Ostrom is the first woman to win the prize in economics. (I was surprised in the early years that Joan Robinson never won since she was a big name from the 1930s and 1940s. But, she died and the award is not made posthumously.)

The two economists are linked in that their work relates to property rights/transaction costs approaches to economic analysis. Williamson worked on the firm as an institution and Ostrom worked on open-access property and communal property-rights regimes. …