Reflections on the Commons Ostrom 1990

This is a critique of most of the perspective in part one, with an eagles eye view of Ostrom's work and goals and main arguments. One central one that shines through is emphasizing the ability of people to manage themselves in real-life common pools. Also brings in game theory

"...led Robert Smith (1981 p.467) to suggest that "the only way to avoid the tragedy of the commons in natural resources and wildlife is to end the common-property system by creating a system of private property rights" see also the work of Smith 1984. ANd Welsh 1983 for the private property fetishists

"By "successful" I mean institutions that enable individuals to achieve productive outcomes in situations where tamptations to free-ride and shirk are ever present. A competitive market-the epitome of private institutions-is itself a public good. Once a competitve market is provided, individuals can enter and exit freely wheter or not they contribute to the cost of providing and maintaining the market. No market can exist for long without underlying public instituions to support it. In field settings, public and private institutions frequently are intermeshed and depend on one another, rather than existing in isolated worlds."