I don't see the human as hopeless. There's a general tendency to presume people just act for short-term profit. But anyone who knows about small-town businesses and how people in a community relate to one another realizes that many of those decisions are not just for profit and that humans do try to organize and solve problems.
--Elinor Ostrom
Common(s) Sense: Garrett Hardin's famous essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons," argued that individual self-interest would always destroy any land or resource collectively held by a community. Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics last year, thinks otherwise. Citing examples from Swiss peasants to African farmers, Ostrom argues that community property often does flourish and people do come together to solve communal problems. Read more in an interview with Ostrom.
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Garrett Hardin's famous essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons," argued that individual self-interest would always destroy any land or resource collectively held by a community. Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics last year, thinks otherwise. Citing examples from Swiss peasants to African farmers, Ostrom argues that community property often does flourish and people do come together to solve communal problems. Read more in an interview with Ostrom.
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