Island economics: economic governance of common-pool resources in the island of Boracy, Philippines
Date
2010-03
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
As advancement in technology and modem forms of transportation and communication open local resources to a wider global market, the need for existing models and frameworks to capture relevant institutional details becomes evident in case- specific observations of resource management situations. This research paper is a multi- disciplinary case study of economic governance in the island setting of Boracay, Philippines. By applying the new institutional approach developed by Elinor Ostrom in her extensive research on common-pool resources, this case study analyzes how institutions in Boracay contribute to the sustainability of the island's unique beach land ยท resource. The paper reexamines the necessity of Ostrom's proposed set of design principles for successful common-pool resource management at an intertemporal level, by closely observing the island's institutional development. Further empirical observations and particular analysis of the crucial formation period of Boracay's common-pool resource institutions, which spans three decades, support the paper's claim that more basic underlying characteristics of the proposed design principles determine enduring economic governance, and not strictly the presence or absence of these design principles. These characteristics revolve around the resilience of institutions and recognition of their overlapping relational functions, linking together economic principles with historical, social and political structures for the sustainability of the Boracay beach land common-pool resource.
Description
Keywords
Economic governance, Common-pool resources, Boracay island, Rural development, Island development, Island governance, LGU