Readings

WEEK # READINGS
2

The Origin of the debate over collective action and public goods

Olson, Mancur. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971, chapters 1-3. ISBN: 9780674537514.

Suggested reading

Hardin, Garret. "The Tragedy of the Commons." Science 162 (1968): 1243-48.
3

The orthodox solutions to collective action problems associated with public goods provision

Olson, Mancur. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971, chapters 4-6. ISBN: 9780674537514.

Buchanan, James M. "An Economic Theory of Clubs." Economica 32 (1965): 1-14.

Suggested readings

Cornes, Richard, and Todd Sandler. The Theory of Externalities, Public Goods, and Club Goods. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780521477185.

Ostrom, Elinor. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1990, chapter 1. ISBN: 9780521405997.

Tiebout, Charles M. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures." Journal of Political Economy 64 (1956): 416-24.
4

Reconceptualizing self and society

Unger, Roberto Mangabeira. Social Theory: Its Situation and Its Task. Brooklyn, NY: Verso, 2004, chapters 1-5. ISBN: 9781844675159.

Sen, Amartya K. "Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory." Philosophy and Public Affairs 6, no. 4 (1977): 317-344.

Suggested readings

Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1986. ISBN: 9780140432442.

Miller, Byron. "Collective Action and Rational Choice: Place, Community, and the Limits to Individual Self-Interest." Economic Geography 68 (1992): 22-42.
5

Anti-necessitarianism and new social orders

Unger, Roberto Mangabeira. Social Theory: Its Situation and Its Task. Brooklyn, NY: Verso, 2004, chapters 6-8. ISBN: 9781844675159.

Bimber, Bruce, Andrew J. Flanagin, and Cynthia Stohl. "Reconceptualizing Collective Action in the Contemporary Media Environment." Communication Theory 14, no. 4 (2005): 365-388.

Suggested readings

Habermas, J. The Theory of Communicative Action. Vol. I. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1984. ISBN: 9780807015063.

———. The Theory of Communicative Action. Vol. II. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1987.
6

The emergence of cooperation

Axelrod, Robert. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York, NY: Basic Book, 1984, chapters 1-4, 6, and 7.

Suggested readings

Axelrod, Robert. The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780691015675.

Ostrom, Elinor. "Collective Action and Local Development Process." Sociologica 3 (2007): 1-32.

Sandler, T. Collective Action: Theory and Application. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780472065011.
7

Trust and reciprocity

Axelrod, Robert. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York, NY: Basic Book, 1984, chapters 8 and 9.

Ostrom, Elinor. "Building Trust to Solve Commons Dilemmas: Taking Small Steps to Test an Evolving Theory of Collective Action." In Games, Groups, and the Global Good. Edited by Simon Levin. New York, NY: Springer, 2009. ISBN: 9783540854357.

Suggested readings

Bolton, G. E., and A. Ockenfels. "A Theory of Equity, Reciprocity, and Competition." American Economic Review 90 (2000): 166-193.

Gambetta, Diego, ed. "Can We Trust Trust?" In Trust: Making and Breaking Cooperative Relations. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell, 1990. ISBN: 9780631175872.

Hardin, Russell. "Trust and Society." In Competition and Structure: The Political Economy of Collective Decisions: Essays in Honor of Albert Breton. Edited by Gianluigi Galeotti, Pierre Salmon, and Ronald Wintrobe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780521088206.

Misztal, Barbara. Trust in Modern Societies: The Search for the Bases of Social Order. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780745616346.

Ostrom, Elinor. "Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms." The Journal of Economic Perspectives 14, no. 3 (2000): 137-158.

———. Trust and Reciprocity: Interdisciplinary Lessons for Experimental Research. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation Publications, 2005. ISBN: 9780871546487.
8

Philanthropy: limitations and possibilities

Andreoni, James. "Privately Provided Public Goods in a Large Economy: The Limits to Altruism." Journal of Public Economics 35 (1988): 57-73.

Lange, Andreas, John A. List, and Michael K. Price. Using Tontines to Finance Public Goods: Back to the Future? Working paper 10958. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2004.

Sugden, Robert. "Reciprocity: The Supply of Public Goods through Voluntary Contributions." The Economic Journal 94, no. 376 (1984): 772-787.

Suggested readings

Andreoni, James. "Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving." The Economic Journal 100 (1990): 464-77.

Bergstrom, T. C., L. Blume, and H. R. Varian. "On the Private Provision of Public Goods." Journal of Public Economics 29, no. 1 (1986): 25-49.

Bochet, O., T. Page, and L. Putterman. "Communication and Punishment in Voluntary Contribution Experiments." Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 60 (2006): 11-26.

Sugden, Robert. "On the Economics of Philanthropy." The Economic Journal 92 (1982): 341-50.

Ye, Maoliang, Plamen Nikolov, Lorenzo Casaburi, and Sam Asher. "Do Threshold Patterns Matter in Public Goods Provision?" Social Science Research Network (2008). Harvard University, unpublished manuscript.
9

Public-private partnerships, community activism, and public education

Davis, Gina, and Elinor Ostrom. "A Public Economy Approach to Education: Choice and Co-Production." International Political Science Review/Revue internationale de science politique 12, no. 4 (1991): 313-335.

Mesch, Gustavo S., and Kent P. Schwirian. "The Effectiveness of Neighborhood Collective Action." Social Problems 43, no. 4 (1996): 467-483.

Schaeffer, Peter V., and Scott Loveridge. "Toward an Understanding of Types of Public-private Cooperation." Public Performance and Management Review 26, no. 2 (2002): 169-189.

Suggested readings

Hong, Yu-Hung, and Barrie Needham, eds. Analyzing Land Readjustment: Economics, Law, and Collective Action. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2007. ISBN: 9781558441644.

Ostrom, Elinor, Larry Schroeder, and Susan Wynne. "Analyzing the Performance of Alternative Institutional Arrangements for Sustaining Rural Infrastructure in Developing Countries." Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 3, no. 1 (1993): 11-45.
10

Public health

Bazzoli, Gloria J., Rebecca Stein, Jeffrey A. Alexander, Douglas A. Conrad, Shoshanna Sofaer, and Stephen M. Shortell. "Public-private Collaboration in Health and Human Service Delivery: Evidence from Community Partnerships." The Milbank Quarterly 75, no. 4 (1997): 533-561.

Browning, Christopher R., and Kathleen A. Cagney. "Neighborhood Structural Disadvantage, Collective Efficacy, and Self-Rated Physical Health in an Urban Setting." Journal of Health and Social Behavior 43, no. 4 (2002): 383-399.

Mintz, Beth. "Business Participation in Health Care Policy Reform: Factors Contributing to Collective Action within the Business Community." Social Problems 42, no. 3 (1995): 408-428.

Suggested readings

Flocks, Joan, Leslie Clarke, Stan Albrecht, Carol Bryant, Paul Monaghan, and Holly Baker. "Implementing a Community-based Social Marketing Project to Improve Agricultural Worker Health." Environmental Health Perspectives 109, no. 3 (2001): 461-468.

Schwartz, Brian S., Cindy Parker, Thomas A. Glass, and Howard Hu. "Global Environmental Change: What Can Health Care Providers and the Environmental Health Community Do About It Now?" Environmental Health Perspectives 114, no. 12 (2006): 1807-1812.
11

Natural resource conservation

Cole, Daniel. "Climate Change and Collective Action." Current Legal Problems 61 (2009): 229-264. (forthcoming)
(Also forthcoming in The Road from Kyoto: Toward a More Realistic Climate Regime published by Cambridge University Press, 2009)

Lubell, Mark, Mark Schneider, John T. Scholz, and Mihriye Mete. "Watershed Partnerships and the Emergence of Collective Action Institutions." American Journal of Political Science 46, no. 1 (2002): 148-163.

Ostrom, Elinor. "Design Principles of Robust Property Rights Institutions: What Have We Learned?" In Property Rights and Land Policies. Edited by Gregory K. Ingram and Yu-Hung Hong. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2009. ISBN: 9781558441880.

Suggested readings

Agarwal, Bina. "Conceptualising Environmental Collective Action: Why Gender Matters." Cambridge Journal of Economics 24 (2000): 283-310.

Ostrom, Elinor. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1990, chapters 3-5. ISBN: 9780521405997.