Economics

Roads and Paths As Common-pool Resources, and the Problem of Governing Them

4 Comments / Economics, Sport and fitness / By

Lynne Kiesling Yesterday at Reason’s Hit & Run Tim Cavanaugh wrote about something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time: the institutions we use for governing the shared use of paths between cyclists and motorists on roads, and among cyclists, walkers, runners, rollerbladers, etc. on multi-use paths. Tim’s starting point was Christopher Beam’s …

Roads and Paths As Common-pool Resources, and the Problem of Governing Them Read More »

Paul Romer on the Nobel

Economics / By

Lynne Kiesling Wow. Paul Romer’s blog post congratulating Elinor Ostrom for yesterday’s Nobel is dramatic. And, in my view, entirely accurate. I really appreciate his “skyhooks and cranes” invocation: Most economists think that they are building cranes that suspend important theoretical structures from a base that is firmly grounded in first principles. In fact, they …

Paul Romer on the Nobel Read More »

Henderson, Smith on the Nobel and Its Implications for Economics

9 Comments / Economics / By

Lynne Kiesling Today David Henderson has penned the traditional Wall Street Journal commentary on yesterday’s Nobel award to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson. He provides an excellent summary of the importance of their work, and I recommend it to you highly. In fact, David’s theme reconciles what some commenters have observed as a political or …

Henderson, Smith on the Nobel and Its Implications for Economics Read More »

High Costs Drive Government to Take over Government-Owned Electric Utility in Mexico

2 Comments / Economics, Electricity / By

Lynne Kiesling This story will have you shaking your head in disbelief in multiple dimensions. The electricity industry in Mexico is government-owned but decentralized, with multiple public distribution utility companies. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, over the weekend the Mexican government took over the second-largest of these government-run distribution companies, Luz y Fuerza …

High Costs Drive Government to Take over Government-Owned Electric Utility in Mexico Read More »

More on Ostrom and Williamson, and Decentralized Coordination

9 Comments / Economics / By

Lynne Kiesling Both Ostrom’s work on governance institutions and common-pool resources and Williamson’s work on governance institutions and the transactional boundary of the firm contribute meaningfully to our understanding of how individuals coordinate their plans and actions in decentralized, complex systems. One of the most important ideas that Williamson has developed in his work is …

More on Ostrom and Williamson, and Decentralized Coordination Read More »

Copyright © 2022 Knowledge Problem Archive