Elinor Ostrom’s Definition of Institutions

I explain how Elinor Ostrom defines an institution in her book Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action.

[jeongminoh]

Great to see an economist covers her work. It was surprising for me that few economists around me knew her even though she got the Nobel prize in Econ.

[tooearly]

Hey! Elinor Ostrom! Awesome to see you covering this!

[jeanpiolo]

Hahha I love when you mentioned "rainfall" at 6:12 and your marker falls. Took engineering for my bachelors and now I'm taking masters which include lots of economic, and I am struggling in that part. I love your videos its very informative and entertaining <3

[dattaprasadgodbole]

Great Intro. I'll try to frame this in my words, tell me if I'm missing something.

An Institution is a set of 'working rules' that tell who must do what and what happens if they don't do that. The term 'Working Rules' has two aspects. The first is 'Rules', which tell what you need to do, what you can do, and what you cannot do. The second aspect is 'Working', which means people know, follow, and enforce it.

Take John Wick, for example. It has the High Table, a council of twelve crime lords. Among other things, they govern a safe haven called 'The Continental'. The working rule there is - Killing is forbidden on the Continental grounds. All assassins know it and follow it. The High Table allows the Continental to enforce it. They can either execute the violators or place a bounty on them.

The rules about the formation of the High Table are Constitutional Choice Rules. The rules that the High Table makes are the Collective Choice Rules. The rules about the Continental are the Operational Rules. Let's say The Continental breaks a rule. Then the High Table sends an Adjudicator to enforce the rules.

[quintessenceSL]

Why not move to straight demarchy?

If you assume a hierarchical structure from the onset, that pretty much defines the operation of the institution, and everything else is essentially band-aids for the structure (not that direct democracy doesn't have its own problems).

You can also pull a bit from Henry George about paying for access to the community for most efficient use.