Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, passed away at Indiana University's Health Bloomington Hospital, on the morning of June 12^th, U.S time. The university says that the 79-year-old distinguished professor succumbed to cancer.

 

Ostrom was awarded in the year of 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, which she shared with Oliver E. Williamson, for "her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons". She was the first, and to date, the only woman to win the prize in this category. Her work was associated with the new institutional economics and the resurgence of political economy.

 

Prof. Ostrom visited the School of Public Policy and Management twice, respectively in the year of 2007 and 2012, and shared insightful expertise with SPPM faculty and students. During her visit in 2012, besides the exchanges with SPPM faculty, Ostrom also inspired all Tsinghua students by giving an open lecture of “Diagnosing Social Ecological Systems” in Tsinghua Forum.

 

Additionally, Prof. Ostrom invited SPPM faculty member, Prof. Yahua Wang, to visit the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy analysis, Indiana University, as a visiting scholar during 2009-2010, which promoted the intellectual exchange between Tsinghua University and Indiana University.

 

Upon hearing Ostrom’s death, the whole school mourned for the loss of Prof. Ostrom. On behalf of all the SPPM faculty and students, Prof. Xue Lan, Dean of SPPM, extended his deep sorrow for Ostrom’s passing away and offered his great sympathy to Prof. Ostrom’s husband Vincent, and to her family.

 

Below is the Condolence Letter from Dean Xue.