Only woman to get Nobel Prize for economics dies

[Mourning the passing away of Prof. Elinor Ostrum, a Nobel laureate in economics, who had done important research in local management of irrigation system in Nepal in early nineties. Her research finding that farmers were better manager than the government are among the ideas that have shaped view on the model of federalism for Nepal. ]

RICK CALLAHAN | 

                                                            

From left to right: Crown Princess Victoria, Mrs Dolores Williamson, Laureate Oliver E. Williamson, Her Majesty Queen Silvia, His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Laureate Elinor Ostrom, Prince Carl Philip, and Princess Madeleine at the Nobel Banquet. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2009 Photo: Orasisfoto

INDIANAPOLIS — Elinor Ostrom, an Indiana University political scientist who is the only woman to have been awarded a Nobel Prize in economics, died Tuesday. She was 78.

Ostrom, who won a share of the 2009 prize for her research into how people overcome selfish interests to successfully manage natural resources, died of pancreatic cancer at IU Health Bloomington Hospital, said Michael McGinnis, a friend and colleague who was at her bedside when she died.

Ostrom’s husband, Vincent Ostrom, who is 93 years old and suffers from dementia, was brought to her room after she passed away, McGinnis said

“He was able to say goodbye to her and see that she was gone. I think he understood. It was very touching,” McGinnis said.

Ostrom, who along with her husband founded IU’s Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis in 1973, remained active in her research even after learning she had cancer late last year, said McGinnis, the workshop’s current director. He said she had traveled to Mexico this spring only a couple of weeks before her final hospitalization.