First woman wins Nobel prize for economics
Updated
The American economist Elinor Ostrom has become the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Economics since its inception 40 years ago. She shares the honour with Oliver Willimson.
76-year-old Professor Ostrom won the award for her life's work showing how natural resources like forests are best managed locally, rather than by governments or private companies.
Presenter:Bronwyn Herbert
Speakers:Elinor Ostrom, Nobel laureate; Professor Jeff Bennett, Crawford School of economics at the Australian National University
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BRONWYN HERBERT: The first Nobel Laureate for Economics was awarded in 1969. Forty years on and for the first time it's been awarded to a woman.
INTERVIEWER: We should have Professor Elinor Ostrom with us on the phone now, Professor Ostrom are you there?
ELINOR OSTROM: Yes I am.
INTERVIEWER: Good, have you had your morning coffee.
ELINOR OSTROM: Oh yes I needed it very much. It was an immense surprise.
INTERVIEWER: Our warmest congratulations of course.
BRONWYN HERBERT: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Elinor Ostrom the prize for her work demonstrating how common environment property, from forests to fisheries, could be best managed at the local scale rather than by the state or private companies.
Professor Ostram says she's still in shock to become the first woman to win the award.
ELINOR OSTROM: I hadn't realised that that was the case until just recently. When they called my first reaction was a great surprise and appreciation. There are many, many people who have struggled mightily and to be chosen for this prize is a great honour.
BRONWYN HERBERT: This year's prize brings the total number of women who have won any of the six Nobel prizes to 40. That's compared to a figure of more than 760 men.
Professor Jeff Bennett from the Crawford School of economics at the Australian National University describes the Nobel winner as a powerhouse who has made many vital contributions to understanding land management.
JEFF BENNETT: People might be familiar with work that's encapsulated by this phrase "the tragedy of the commons", whereby we see common property being mismanaged, overused, but what Elinor was able to show was that in fact if communities can act in successful ways to manage these collective resources successfully.
BRONWYN HERBERT: Professor Ostrom shares the $1.5 million prize with Oliver Williamson, who won recognition for his work in transaction cost economics.
