“Instead of there being a single solution to a single problem, I argue that a great variety of institutional arrangements can work to manage common-pool resources.”Elinor Ostrom · Governing the Commons · 1990 · Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Chapter 1
Many believed that if a pasture belongs to everyone, each person brings too many cows and the grass runs out for all. Ostrom studied real villages worldwide and found local rules, written by the people themselves, that prevented exactly this problem. Communities can make good rules, if allowed to.
Why it matters Her work earned the first Nobel Prize in Economics ever given to a woman.