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First woman wins Nobel Prize for economics
Americans Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson won the Nobel Prize for economics for work on how community institutions can prevent conflict, the Nobel Committee announced Monday.
Ostrom becomes the first woman to win the prize in its 40-year history.
The award was a "great surprise... I'm still a little bit in shock," she said by phone at the news conference announcing the prize.
Ostrom, a professor of political science at Indiana University, was praised "for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons."
Ostrom's work shows that local communities often manage common resources -- such as woods, lakes and fish stocks -- better on their own than when outside authorities impose rules, the committee said.