Sustainable development and the tragedy of commons

Between now and Easter I am teaching environmental economics and other aspects of market and government failure for my A2 micro groups. This week we are looking at environmental market failures and will spend a lesson looking at the Tragedy of the Commons. I found this superb eight minute You Tube video featuring the 2009 Nobel Prize-winner Elinor Ostrom who gives a tremendously clear explanation of how enhancing the way that local people organise to manage resources can be used to achieve a more sustainable use of scarce resources.

Elinor Ostrom is the joint winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics. At the time of the award, she was cited for “for her analysis of economic governance," saying her work had demonstrated how common property could be successfully managed by groups using it."