Ostrom lecture postponed

Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom’s lecture scheduled for this afternoon is postponed due to inclement weather in Indiana.

Ostrom, the first female to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, was set to deliver her speech, “Updating the Theory of Collective Action and the Environment,” in Love Auditorium at 6 p.m. Information regarding the event’s rescheduling has not yet been released, a Duke news release noted.

Ostrom received the Nobel Prize in 2009 for her study of economic governance, specifically the study of the “sustainable long-term management of common pool resources such as forests, fisheries, oil fields and groundwater basin,” according to the release.

The laureate planned to focus the lecture on her argument for a polycentric approach to resource management, with emphasis on the importance of local stakeholders’ involvement in oversight decisions. Ostrom’s work has challenged the theory that resources should be privatized or controlled by central authorities to prevent ecosystem collapse, the release noted.