Digital Library of the Commons

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Constitutional Level of Analysis: Problems and Prospects
(1979) Ostrom, Vincent
From p. 20: "The problems and prospects inherent in using the constitutional level of analysis to inform political inquiry are sufficiently great that they deserve careful consideration in laying the theoretical foundations for empirical investigations of political behavior and policy analyses. The theoretical analysis occurs at the constitutional level where inquiry is oriented to a consideration of alternative institutional arrangements. The conduct of empirical investigation occurs at the operational level within the constraints of given institutional structures. If empirical inquiry is to be informed by an appropriate theoretical analysis we need to proceed at both the constitutional and the operational levels of analysis. If we do so we may discover important links between political theory, political practice, and political science. We would then be in a position to test propositions about whether political structures do make a difference in the way that people are governed and live their lives in human societies. "Considering the nature of human artisanship we need to come to terms with conceptions of political structures as entailing more than words on paper. No one would expect a chemical formula to work by itself. Political institutions entail political artisans as well as political formulas. Then we learn how to treat artisans, and the conceptions they use, as informing conduct in relation to structures we may be in a position to determine the relationship of the structure of institutional arrangements to the consequences that flow for human societies. This requires more than the study of behavior per se. The constitutional level of analysis must accompany the operational level of analysis in the study of political phenomena not as natural phenomena, but as artifactual phenomena."
Oyster Seed Hatcheries on the U.S. West Coast: An Overview
(1979) Clark, Jerry E.; Langmo, Donald
"Oyster production in the United States has been diminishing for nearly 80 years. Natural disasters (including disease and predation), pollution, siltation, and land reclamation projects have all contributed to the decline. Present U.S. production is not even equal to what once came from the Chesapeake Bay alone."
Social Forestry in India
(1979) Pant, M.M.
"In India, a conceptual distinction has been drawn between production forestry (so far confined mainly to reserved forests) and social forestry (scattered land wherever tree-growing is possible). Social forestry is, in effect, an integral part of the Gandhian philosophy of economic growth and community development. Imagine an economy in which the present idle land and water resources, owned by individuals or communities, are harnessed for better purposes by putting to work unemployed people. The social benefits thus generated and the additional resources so created may serve as stepping stones toward self-sufficiency. The objectives of social forestry as defined by the National Commission on Agriculture (NCA, 1976) are: (a) supply of fuelwood to replace cow dung; (b) supply of small timber; (c) supply of fodder; (d) protection of agricultural fields from wind and soil erosion; and (e) creation of recreational amenities. Its main components are: farm forestry, rural forestry, and urban forestry. Broadly speaking, their objectives are almost identical, the differences being too subtle, but worth examining."
Urban Bads and the Structure of Institutional Arrangements
(1979) Sproule-Jones, Mark
"This paper will attempt to answer these broad questions. It does so by first outlining what may be called 'the theory of public bads.' Such a theory is necessary to explain the relationships between institutional arrangements and policy initiatives in the context of an urban and interdependent society. And this kind of explanatory knowledge is necessary for an evaluation of past institutional changes and future institutional possibilities. "Part II of the paper contains the theory and an illustrative case study of its empirical warrantability. Part III of the paper argues that the thrust of most changes in institutional arrangements over the last decade may have exacerbated rather than ameliorated the human condition in urban society. This argument is congruent with the theoretical section. It also presents a key institutional reform which could set the agenda for responsive and effective governance of urban society in the immediate future."
Bureaucracy and the Unmanaged Forest Commons in Costa Rica (Or Why Development Does not Grow on Trees)
(1979) Guess, George M.
"Due to the continuing manifested lack of viable planning for forestation by most governments, there are analysts who firmly believe that the responsibility for long-range planning and implementation and control of plans will increasingly fall upon large domestic and multi- national corporations. If governments are truly concerned about the probably increasing dominance of the world economy by multinational corporations (both privately and/or publicly owned), the most apparent alternative to sheer volatile legislative control is to improve national planning modes substantially, including the control of the implementation of long-range and related short-range plans. Government sponsored control systems must always remain relatively ineffective unless tied inextricably to major viable objectives (long-range aims) and appropriate, viable strategies for their long-range implementation. Similarly, they must be integrally related to viable short-range goals (aims) and operational plans."
An Investigation of Cree Indian Domestic Fisheries in Northern Quebec
(1979) Berkes, Fikret
"Domestic or subsistence fisheries of the eastern James Bay Cree. were studied, mainly in Fort George, by direct observation. These fisheries were characterized by large numbers of participants, low catches per day and per fisherman, but high catches per length of net used, as compared to commercial fisheries. Most stocks appear lightly utilized, but in the vicinity of larger settlements there is evidence that some stocks are overfished. The total catch may be increased by distributing the fishing effort more evenly over a larger area. Fish resource base of the region appears suitable for supporting local economic development with respect to recreational fisheries and native-run commercial fisheries for the local market, as well as maintaining the domestic fishery."
Performance Measurement in Practice: A Methodology Gone Amuck!
(1979) Ostrom, Elinor
"'Evaluation research,' 'productivity measurement,' 'Management science,' and "program budgeting are different names given to closely related techniques all of which involve measuring organizational or program performance in one way or another. Much is to be learned from these approaches in any effort to to address the conceptual issues involved in measuring the performance of public agencies such as the police. However, while the early work in these traditions stressed the iterative and learning nature of the enterprise, more recent applications have routinized the process into defined steps. Blind acceptance by evaluation researchers of these reconstituted approach hes to performance measurement can have serious consequences for the quality and usefulness of the work produced."
Value Added, Margins, and Consumer Expenditures for Edible Fishery Products in the United States 1976-78
(1979) Penn, Erwin S.; Crews, Wenona J.
"The presentation in value terms of the basic estimates in this study makes it possible to produce analogous figures that can be compared with gross national product value of other industries, and total and per capita expenditures for other food products."
Public Choice Analysis of Institutional Constraints on Firewood Production Strategies in the West African Sahel
(Resources for the Future, Inc, 1979) Thomson, James T.; Russell, C. S.; Nicholson, Norman
"This essay presents a public choice policy analysis of firewood production possibilities in the West African Sahel, the arid southern fringe of the Sahara Desert."
Political Economy Approach to the Analysis of Institutional Behavior and Consequences
(1979) Kiser, Larry L.; Ostrom, Elinor
From p. 1: "Undertaking a synthesis of work in political economy for a Handbook of Political Behavior is a massive task. The potential literature for such a review is far too extensive for the limitations of a single chapter. Moreover, the term political economy is used to characterize such a wide variety of academic work that no single chapter could provide a coherent synthesis of all the different perspectives. A chapter-length discussion must be more selective. "This chapter focuses entirely on the political economy literature which starts with the individual as a basic unit of analysis and which conceptualizes collectives of individuals as artifacts crafted to increase individuals access to available outcomes. Literature examining the effects of different institutional arrangements on the conduct and behavior of individuals and literature evaluation consequences is emphasized."

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