Happy Days! The Nobel Prize in economics has been awarded to
a: a women economist
B: a women economist who understands and promotes the successful management of the Commons
Congratulations also to Mike Sandler who has a piece in the Huffington Post about Elinor Ostrom (the commons economist) and her important work on the self regulation of various kinds of commons property throughout the world. (Link to article)
See below, Mike’s citing for our own Feasta created ‘Cap and Share’ proposal for managing carbon emissions.
A similar system geared to address climate change is called “Cap & Share.” Fossil fuel producers are required to purchase a limited number of emission permits. However, instead of giving or selling the permits to companies, the permits are distributed as “shares” to households on an equal per capita basis. The point of regulation remains upstream, and fossil fuel producers and importers are required to purchase the shares from people. As people sell their shares to the upstream companies, the companies raise fuel prices, but return the value of the permits back to households. Cap & Dividend, promoted by author Peter Barnes, achieves a similar result through a government auction of permits to companies, returning the proceeds to households as a per capita dividend. It’s a fair way to help households, and it could form the basis of the next international climate treaty.
