Governance of transactions and common goods: what lessons we can draw

The article deals with the research program of the 2009's Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, which was awarded to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson. The term “governance” is no doubt the keyword joining Oliver Williamson and Elinor Ostrom research programs. In their approach governance can be quite well identified with the active capacity of social actors characterized by differential capacities (in terms of rationality, information availability, material and immaterial skills and assets, etc.) and motivations (self-interest, opportunism, altruism, etc.), to design institutional arrangements able to allow for a satisfying “coordination” of their heterogeneous and potentially conflicting goals. Managing conveniently social contexts featured by many stakeholders originates from the need to avoid “coordination failures”.