ASU research professor Elinor Ostrom won the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Monday.
Ostrom, 76, is the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for economics, which was first awarded in 1968. She is the fifth woman to win a Nobel award this year, a record number of women awarded the prize in one year.
Ostromi is one of three ASU faculty members to win a Nobel Prize since 2001. Edward C. Prescott also won the 2004 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and Leland “Lee” Hartwell won the 2001 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, said Carol Hughes, spokeswoman for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The research professor was chosen because of her analysis of economic governance, especially of resources that are collectively owned, according to a statement from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
“She observes that resource users frequently develop sophisticated mechanisms for decision-making and rule enforcement to handle conflicts of interest, and she characterizes the rules that promote successful outcomes,” the statement said. “Elinor Ostrom has demonstrated how common property can be successfully managed by user associations.”
Ostrom shares the award, and the $1.4 million prize, with another American, Oliver E. Williamson, 77, professor emeritus of business, economics and law at the University of California, Berkeley. Williamson won for “his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm,” according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Currently a professor at Indiana University Bloomington, Ostrom will return to ASU next semester to continue her research, Hughes said.
She is the founding director of ASU’s Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity, which was established in 2008, Hughes said.
“This is a wonderful honor for Elinor, for ASU and for the State of Arizona,” said ASU President Michael Crow in a statement. “It is another example of how ASU faculty are working to solve real world problems and how that work is receiving national and international recognition.”
Reach the reporter at taylor.rose@asu.edu.
