Ostrom accepts Nobel Prize in Stockholm

An encircled, golden ‘N’ marked the spot on the stage where Elinor Ostrom met Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf on Thursday in Stockholm.

Ostrom, an IU political science and economics professor for almost four decades and the world’s first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, took 10 steps across the royal blue stage of the Stockholm Concert Hall to accept the award from the king.

“It’s the most exciting, wonderful event that could ever happen in one’s life,” Ostrom said in a statement to the Indiana Daily Student after meeting privately with the king. “I’m very, very appreciative of all the help that I’ve received from my colleagues in Bloomington and elsewhere. It’s great.”

The small, red package she received on stage included a gold medal bearing Alfred Nobel in profile, a diploma with Nobel insignia and a document certifying for 10 million kroner ($1.54 million) prize money.  

Ostrom plans to donate her half of the Prize money to an endowment of the IU Foundation that supports the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, which she and her husband, Vincent, co-founded in 1973. The Workshop, located on Park Avenue behind Collins Living-Learning Center, facilitates weekly colloquia for graduate students and research associates, as well as about a dozen visiting scholars.

Ostrom shares the Prize with Oliver Williamson of the University of California, Berkley.
Research based on real-world studies and interdisciplinary collaboration led Ostrom
and her colleagues to challenge conventional economic theory on common pool
resources like oceans, forests and the global atmosphere.