The use of the term common property resource to designate a type of good has been criticized, because commonpool resources are not necessarily governed by. A resource that benefits a group of people, but which provides diminished benefits to everyone if each individual pursues. Common property resources cpr tend to be particularly susceptible to depletion and degredation. August 7, 1933 june 12, 2012 was an american political economist whose work was associated with the new institutional economics and the resurgence of political economy. We hypothesize that the ongoing modernization of competitive societies, which we refer to as capitalism, affects human nature for utilizing common pool resources, thus compromising sustainability. Policies aimed at managing common pool resources cprs often target only one decision margin, despite the fact that the social efficiency of resource use is determined along multiple decision margins. In between lies common property, where the rights to exploit a. This study mobilizes sociological imagination to go beyond the current theory of cprs by paying. Pdf revisiting the concept of common pool resources. This article presents a conceptual framework for theoretical and empirical analysis of the multiplicity of behavioral problems encountered in commonpool resources cprs.
Elinor ostrom shared the nobel prize in economics in 2009 for her lifetime of scholarly work investigating how communities succeed or fail at managing common pool finite resources such as grazing land, forests and irrigation waters. A multiagent reinforcement learning model of commonpool. Pdf download for the nature of commonpool resource problems, article information. This creates problems for sustainable development and for resource stewardship in general since many of the key global resources are common property. Cprs may emerge in response to a common pool resource dilemma given the rivalrousness of the resource, and the high cost of exclusion, and in contrast to private or public management of the resource. For example, if one user cut a tree, another cannot use the same tree. Rules, games, and commonpool resources elinor ostrom, roy gardner, and james walker.
The object of this series of posts on common pool resource theory is to generate discussion in the context of knowledge commons. The common pool resource theory and the reality of commons projects 637 1. Seven characteristics and an eight one, in more complex cases, are generally considered to constitute a cpr. Commons projects, such as communitybased natural resource management, have widespread appeal, which has enabled them to shrug off a mixed performance in practice. Commonpool resource, a resource made available to all by consumption and to which access can be limited only at high cost. Introduction he chief aim of this paper is to ex amine the economic theory of nat i ural resource utilization as it per tains to the fishing industry. Institutional analysis and development a framework. Introduction over the past 2025 years smallscale, localised commons projects have been a prominent rural development strategy in developing countries. Africa, collective action, common pool resources, commons. Selfgovernance and sustainable common pool resource. This is done merely for practical reasons and is not meant to suggest that there is anything like one coherent. For example, limited entry fisheries and irrigated land retirement programs focus only on influencing the number of agents engaged in resource extraction the extensive margin, but ignore.
The article explores the different definitions of cpr and the traps associated with the harvesting of cpr without understanding the. Basic notions are very well introduced so that the reader advance along with the author in the discover of social behaviour and management of commonpool resources cprs. Common property and commonpool resources exclusive possession freehold is one extreme on a continuum of property rights. On the origin of selfgoverned commonpool resources 24 6. Most of interest is the section about the role of communication and the transcriptions of some dialogues among players of simulation in. Common pool resource management at the extensive and. Humanity faces numerous problems of commonpool resource appropriation. The rivalry in consumption of a common pool resource indicates that extraction by one user of the resource precludes another users possession. This class of multiagent social dilemma includes the problems of ensuring sustainable use of fresh water, common fisheries, grazing pastures, and irrigation systems.
In 2009, she was awarded the nobel memorial prize in economic sciences for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons, which she shared with oliver e. Burgessd,e a centre for social and environmental research on the global environment, university of east anglia, norwich, nr4 7tj, united kingdom b economic research bureau, university of dar es salaam. Cumulation of knowledge into a consistent and empirically supported theory. Raising awareness about works on the commons is the ultimate intent.
Common pool concepts and theories concepts and theories on the use of common property resources, are in this paper designated as common pool theory. Common pool resources, spillover e ects, and local. The literature on common pool resources and common property has grown swiftly. However, for some ubiquitous common pool resources resources. In economics, a commonpool resource cpr, also called a common property resource, is a type of good consisting of a natural or humanmade resource system e. Rules, games, and commonpool resources elinor ostrom. Rules, games, and commonpool resource problems 3 commonpool resource. We need to know the basic ground rules of a cpr first. Both state control and privatization of resources have been advocated, but neither the state nor the market have been uniformly successful in solving common pool. What constitutes a private, public, or club good, or commonpool resource introduction. The promise of common pool resource theory and the reality of. No property, as in ocean fisheries or the atmosphere, is the other extreme.
Characteristics of a enduring common pool resource cpr. Motivated by these emerging efforts, our project, improved management of common pool resources, joins mit researchers in engineering and economics to identify optimal water management practices, based on more realistic models of dynamic common pool resource use and newly available empirical evidence from fledgling markets. The adequate management of a commonpool resource requires a deep understanding about the causes of potentialexisting conflict in resource use. Given the large number of factors, perhaps as many as 35 of them see the next section, that have been highlighted as being critical to the organization, adaptability, and sustainability of common property, it is fair to suggest that existing work has not yet fully developed a theory of what makes for sustainable commonpool resource management. A common property rights regime system not to be confused with a commonpool resource is a particular social arrangement regulating the preservation, maintenance, and consumption of a commonpool resource. Beyond ostrom article pdf available in development and society 461. Pdf the promise of common pool resource theory and the reality. Subsequently, to demonstrate ostroms theory of selfgovernance in practice. The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of increasing concern to policy analysts. The authors have shown in an impressive way that the economics of commonpool resources is a fascinating research topic. The promise of common pool resource theory and the reality. Elinor ostrom describes common pool resources youtube. The common property resource problem and the fisheries of.
A basic overview of the theory of commonpool resources. A resource or asset that is jointly managed or accessed by a group rather than by an individual. Stored in a relational database that is accessible via a website, this repository includes systematically formalized theories produced from researchers studying resilience, environmental conservation, commonpool resource governance, environmental and resource economics and political ecology. Common pool resources environmental solutions initiative.
Synthesizing theories of natural resource management and. Although conflict is a feature of many resource management regimes, it is often assumed to reflect differences in material interests between stakeholders. If a common pool resource framework is applicable to a knowledge commons, how simple is it to set up. These projects commonly combine conservation and development ambitions and are promoted. Failures attributed to state management and marketoriented policies. Sustainability has become a key issue in managing natural resources together with growing concerns for capitalism, environmental and resource problems.
Common pool resource theory introduction sustaining the. Rules, games, and commonpool resources elinor ostrom, roy gardner, and james walker with arun agrawal, william blomquist, edella schlager, and shui yan tang ann arbor the universitt or michigan press. The diversity of property rights regimes that can be used to regulate the use of commonpool resources is very large, including the broad categories of government ownership, private ownership, and ownership by a community. This paper discusses how the theoretical assumptions of common pool resource cpr theory may have inadvertently contributed to the unfulfilled expectations of commons projects.
Elinor ostroms 8 principles for managing a commmons on. In the conventional theory of commonpool resources, participants do not undertake efforts to design their own governance arrangements. Forests in india are state owned, common pool natural resources. Substantial empirical evidence exists, however, that many commonpool resources are selfgoverned. The nature of commonpool resource problems roy gardner. Globally pervasive concerns about environmental degradation and resource depletion have stimulated this growth.
Unlike pure public goods, common pool resources face. Some classic examples of commonpool resources are fisheries, forests, underwater basins, and irrigation systems. In such circumstances, conflict may be managed by trading off different management objectives 12 or by attempt. For any economic application, it should become the standard approach to combine gametheoretic analysis, experimental investigations and studies from the field. Game theory, common pool resources cpr and, common pool institutions cpi 1 8 2. The conventional theory of commonpool resources 18 3.
Pdf since garret hardin argued the tragedy of the commons, privatization or state control has. Rules, games, and commonpool resources ann arbor books. Agents beliefs and the evolution of institutions for commonpool. Otc cosponsers a commons festival featuring the nobel prize winner oct.