How Can NIE Inform Sustainable Livelihoods Analysis and Actions? 2.3 Applying NIE: A Starting Point for Analysis of Institutions

It can be difficult to determine the most appropriate approach for analysing institutions since there is a wide variety of transaction activities that are amenable to analysis by NIE. A useful starting point in the analysis of existing institutions is to consider the characteristics of the assets that are affected by the institution(s) in question.

For assets conducive to private ownership because markets can (potentially) function efficiently (for example, inputs such as credit or raw materials), one might begin by investigating the competitiveness of the markets in which these inputs are sourced in order to develop an understanding of the form and effectiveness of current contractual arrangements. This is illustrated in case study 1 and case study 3

For goods where markets are unlikely to exist (where private property rights are too costly to define and enforce), one might investigate the appropriateness of collective arrangements such as common property regimes, with analysis of how well current institutions are supporting collective action. In such cases, analysis is concerned not simply with transactions by the group controlling access and use of the resource, but also with the make up of the group itself and its interaction with the characteristics of the range of assets they are managing.

See Multiple Uses of Common Pool Resources in Semi-Arid West Africa: A Survey of Existing Practices and Options for Sustainable Resource Management. Timothy O. Williams (1998)http://www.oneworld.org/odi/nrp/38.html