A Nobel first: economics prize goes to a woman

A U.S. academic who proved that communities can trump state control and corporations became the first woman to win the Nobel prize in economics on Monday, sharing it with an expert on how companies make decisions whose work could influence post-crisis regulation.

Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University defied conventional wisdom with studies that showed that user-managed properties -- such as community fish stocks or woodland areas -- more often than not were better run than standard theories predicted.

University of California, Berkeley economist Oliver Williamson, the other winner, looked at how incentives within companies, government and other organizations affect decisions, adding human dimensions such as social norms to a field often thought of in terms of a hypothetical perfect market.

The two will share the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences award of 10 million Swedish crown ($1.4 million) prize.

Before Ostrom, the previously accepted view was that common property was poorly managed and should be either regulated centrally or privatized.

"Since we have found that bureaucrats sometimes do not have the correct information while citizens and users of resources do, we hope it helps encourage a sense of capacity and power," Ostrom told a news conference via telephone.

After a week of Nobel drama that included the gasp-inducing selection of U.S. President Barack Obama for the peace prize, the economics category risked being an anti-climax.

But the choice of a woman for a prize in a field dominated by men added a final twist to this year's awards, showing again the Nobel committees' penchant for springing surprises.

"There are many, many people who have struggled mightily and to be chosen for this prize is a great honor and I'm still a little bit in shock," Ostrom, a professor in political science, told the news conference.