Writing in the Guardian (U.K.) in praise of 2009 Econ Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, B.U. Professor Kevin Gallagher cites the pioneering work of UMass Economist James K. Boyce and 2007 UMass Econ Ph.D. Liz Stanton on “payment for environmental services”:
Elinor Ostrom breaks the Nobel mold The economics profession needs to be shaken up. Ostrom’s Nobel prize should encourage us to take a fresh approach…
Elinor Ostrom, 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics
Some economists on the frontier of their discipline have started to use Ostrom’s insights in their work. In their recent book Reclaiming Nature: Environmental Justice and Ecological Restoration, James Boyce, Liz Stanton and Sunita Narain, show how communities in Brazil, India, West Africa and even in the United States have managed their resources in a sustainable manner when given their rightful access to their assets.
Indeed, Boyce and his collaborators find that communities should be paid for their services, since they can sometimes do a far better job than government or corporations at managing resources. Indeed, “payment for environmental services” has become a buzzword in development circles. Now even the World Bank has a fund for PES schemes across the world.
