The Two Ostrom Problem

Abstract

This paper considers two distinct but interrelated historiographic problems that influence our perceptions of Elinor Ostrom’s contributions to economics. The first relates to the difficulties women face in dual-career partnerships which often impact their ability to establish independent academic careers and gain fair recognition for contributions to shared research programs. How Ostrom negotiated these challenges highlights the many and often hidden constraints professional women face. The second problem is how to gauge or weight the work of the Ostrom who was a multidisciplinary scholar of the commons with that of the Ostrom who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Exploring her trajectory in public choice over a half century makes apparent the remarkable force a Nobel Prize exerts on post-hoc appraisals of a career. What is different in the case of Ostrom is that as ‘the first woman to win the prize,’ the award has also served to obscure many of the gender-biased experiences and constraints that Ostrom shared with other women of her generation.