A resource arrangement that works in practice can work in theory; theory should be revised to fit observed institutions.
Ostrom's formulation is a rebuke to theory that dismisses what it cannot model. Working arrangements are data, and a theory that says they cannot work is the thing requiring revision.
In practice
- A theory that says a commons must be enclosed or nationalised meets a Swiss alpine pasture managed communally since 1517, and the theory is what needs revising.
- A model that says an arrangement cannot work, applied to an arrangement that has worked for decades, is data about the model.
- Subject
- Science & Epistemology
- Essay
- Rules for weighing claims