Two college professors, Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson, have won the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, according to press releases from their respective institutions of higher learning.
According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the scientific organization that serves as the selection board for the prize, Ostrom won for her “analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm.”
The Academy further noted that, “Elinor Ostrom has challenged the conventional wisdom that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatized.”
Elinor Ostrom is the second ASU professor to have received a Nobel Prize in economics, while Oliver Williamson is the fifth recipient of an economics Nobel from U-C Berkeley.
Like Ostrom, Williamson was a co-recipient of the Nobel for his work analyzing economic governance. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said that Williamson developed a “a theory in which business firms serve as structures for conflict resolution.”
According to the press release issued by U-C Berkeley, Williamson, in his work, argues that “markets and firms should be seen as alternative governance structures that differ in how they resolve conflicts of interest.”
Representatives from both schools were ecstatic about their respective professors’ winning the Nobel Prize. About Elinor Ostrom’s win, ASU President Michael M. Crow said that the Nobel was “another example of how ASU faculty are working to solve real world problems, and how that work is receiving national and international recognition.”
Similarly, University of California at Berkeley’s Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau made a statement in which he said the University was “so pleased to count 21 Nobel prizes altogether for our campus. This award showcases the faculty excellence that resides at UC Berkeley and the level of contribution this institution makes to the country and the world.”
Ostrom holds research positions at Arizona State University, who announced that Ostrom had won the prize and Indiana University; Williamson is a Professor Emeritus of Business, Economics, and Law at the University of California, Berkeley.
Our Take
Who’s got two thumbs and only the vaguest of notions about what he just wrote? Here’s a hint: it rhymes with “this guy.”
Needless to say, I apparently need to start brushing up more on my texts on economic governance, and less time with my texts about which local Chicago band will become more economically solvent on a national level. In my defense: Have you read the treatise on The 1900s and how they will overcome the tragedy of the commons and microecnomics through the majesty of song and smooth multi-part harmonies?
I think I’ve said all I’ve needed to say.
While I bang my head against my desk about how ignorant I’ve become, and how that ignorance will not likely translate itself into motivation for more education, let me congratulate Ostrom and Williamson (a duo that sounds like a folk group whose work has been recently re-issued on Numero Group) on their respective co-win. Well done, and a tip of the hat to the Universities who employ them.
Additionally, it seems like that, between B-Rock’s recent, if questionable, win of the Nobel Peace Prize, and Ostrom and Williamson (who do a fantastic reinterpretation of “Summer Breeze") Nobel Prize in economics, that America is cleaning intellectual house. So yay for us! Let’s hope the rest of the world continues to recognize America’s mindgrapes as being amongst the finest in the world.
