Institutions Flashcards
Commons
originally land held in common. Now is a broad set of natural and cultural resources shared by many
Hardin’s solutions to the commons
Privatization
Elinor Ostrom and the commons
don’t privatize everything, work together with cooperation
Arum Agarwal and the commons
institutions are the answer
Peter Kropotkin and the commons
Cooperation is equal to and important to competition
Dilemma’s of the commons
there are other factors that influence behavior (trust, sanctions, norms, shared values)
Social Dilemma
any kind of situation where things are not in your favor
Institutions
set of norms that organize human behavior that are hard to change. “Rules of the game”
Two types of institutions
Formal-basically written rules ex: hospital, NY state, government
Informal- Non written rules, ex: family, relationships, marriage (both ways…)
Institutional spheres
Private, public, and civic that can include both formal and informal institutions
Types of commons
Res nullis
Res communes
Res nullis
nobody’s property
Res communes
everybody’s property
Eight design principles for institutions
Used to help institutions better themselves
Water scarcity types
Techno-economic
Perceptual scarcity
Hydraulic
Techno-economic
cant satisfy demands (undeveloped areas)
Perceptual scarcity
we think there is a scarcity, but there actually is not (developed countries)
Hydraulic
Physical Scarcity
Why tragedies occur in institutions
laws don’t match ecological systems (aka biophysical conditions), rules are not supported by authority and do not command respect, and norms are not established in the first place
Limitations of institutions and the commons
tragedies do occur, there is too much blind faith placed in its own proposed solutions, power is not distributed easily, scale of interaction is increasingly tricky
Institutions and the Commons
Humans, acting in their own self-interest, will degrade common resources
Water scarcity and commons dilemma example
How we try to help water scarcity is by making it an issue somewhere else. Ex: Colorado river flow fluctuates a lot and they promised water in places but couldn’t do it at time because of droughts.
