One scholar studies how best to manage resources like forests,
fisheries and oilfields. A fellow American looks at why some
companies grow so large. Together they're winners of this year's
Nobel Prize in economics for groundbreaking work that could affect
efforts to prevent another global financial crisis. Elinor Ostrom, 76
, known for her work on the management of common resources, is the
first woman to win a Nobel in economics. She shares this year's
prize with Oliver Williamson, 77 , who pioneered the study of how and
why companies structure themselves and how they resolve conflicts.
Monday's final prizes of 2009 capped a year in which a record five
women won Nobels. And it was an exceptionally strong year for the
United States, too. Eleven American citizens, some of them with dual
nationality, were among the 13 Nobel winners, including President
Barack Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The Royal
Swedish Academy of Sciences said it chose Ostrom and Williamson for
work that " advanced economic governance research from the fringe to
the forefront of scientific attention." They will share the $1.4
million prize. Ostrom showed how common resources -- forests,
fisheries, oilfields, grazing lands and irrigation systems -- can be
managed successfully by the people who use them, rather than by
governments or private companies. "What we have ignored is what
citizens can do and the importance of real involvement of the people
involved - as opposed to just having somebody in Washington ... make
a rule," Ostrom, a political scientist at Indiana University, said
during a brief session with reporters in Bloomington, Ind.
Williamson, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley,
focused on how companies and markets differ in resolving conflicts.
He found that companies are typically better able than markets to
resolve conflicts when competition is limited, the citation said. The
academy did not specifically mention the global financial crisis. But
many of the problems at the heart of it -- bonuses, executive
compensation, risky and poorly understood securities -- involve a
perceived lack of oversight. "There has been a huge discussion how
the big banks -- the big investment banks -- have acted badly, with
bosses who have misused their power, misused their shareholders'
confidence, and that is in line with (Williamson's) theories," prize
committee member Per Krusell said. Experts said the two scholars'
research did not suggest that more government oversight was the way
to prevent financial crises. Still, they said the work of both --
especially Williamson -- could help shape debate and inspire research
to help prevent another debacle like the one that triggered the
global recession. It also could influence the thinking on other
divisive issues, such as health care coverage and global warming,
experts said. "The one lesson from the financial crisis is that we
have overconfidence in institutions that are important to the
functioning of the economy," said Barak Richman, a law professor at
Duke University who completed his doctorate under Williamson's
supervision. "Both Ostrom's and Williamson's research reveal how
critically important it is to understand these so-called non-market
institutions such as companies, governments, regulators and courts."
Ostrom, also the founding director of Arizona State University's
Centre for the Study of Institutional Diversity, has devoted her
career to studying the interaction of people and natural resources.
"Until her work, the thinking was, 'let the state intervene,'" said
Paul Dragos Aligica, a political scientist at George Mason
University. "'If you leave it to individuals to do whatever they
want, resources will be depleted.' But she said `hold on' and found
that's not the case." Aligica wrote his doctorate under Ostrom's
guidance. Ostrom told the academy by phone that she was surprised by
its choice. "There are many, many people who have struggled mightily,
and to be chosen for this prize is a great honour," Ostrom said. "I'm
still a little bit in shock." Williamson was cited for his studies on
how organizations - including companies - are structured and how it
affects the cost of doing business. According to his theory, large
private corporations exist primarily because they are efficient.
"Large corporations may, of course, abuse their power," the citation
said. "They may for instance, participate in undesirable political
lobbying and exhibit anticompetitive behaviour." Williamson found it
is better to regulate such behaviour directly rather than with
policies that restrict the size of corporations, the academy said.
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