Ostrom, Vincent and Elinor (1919-and 1933-)

Vincent and Elinor Ostrom were the founders and dominant figures of the Bloomington School of Institutional Analysis at the University of Indiana. The Bloomington School has a special relevance for libertarianism due to its theoretical and empirical contributions to the study of government and its optimism regarding the capacity of human beings to self-govern. The Ostroms have challenged the numerous social scientists and decision makers who have assumed that social order needs centralized coordination and control. Due to this assumption, claim the Ostroms, these social scientists have been unable to see the many self-organized governance systems that operate. An important part of the work of the Bloomington School is aimed at analyzing the nature and functions of those self-regulating, self-governance systems. We need not think ...