Research

My research investigates how individuals develop institutional solutions to collective action problems arising in the management of collective goods, including public goods and common-pool resources. Taking a philosophical and historical perspective for now, I seek to shed light on the notion of self-governance, particularly in the face of the new challenges posed by ecological governance. In the future, I hope to complement this perspective with empirical investigations that can further develop and assess the self-governing capacities of individuals, while extending my research to a broader range of collective goods and collective action problems. 

My dissertation, Elinor Ostrom’s Political Economy: Philosophical and Methodological Foundations of Institutional Self-Governance, develops a reading of Ostrom’s work centred on the concept of self-governance. It articulates three dimensions of her thought: its ontological foundations, examined in comparison with James Buchanan’s work; its systemic epistemology, inherited from Herbert Simon; and its Commonsian conception of property rights. I argue that Ostrom’s political economy cannot be reduced to classical liberalism, and that these three dimensions together capture what is distinctive about her self-governist approach.