Nobel winner Ostrom values 'coffee chat'

Arizona State University Research Professor Elinor Ostrom, in Stockholm this week to receive the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, an honor she will share with Oliver E. Williamson of the University of California at Berkeley, comments in an Associated Press story about some of the week's activities - including the interaction and conversations among scientists over coffee, lunch and afternoon tea.

Ostrom noted in the story, which appears on the NPR Web site, that "she had a similar experience at Arizona State University's Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity, which she set up with her husband."

Further: "Development of good, solid, science requires environments in which you can discuss future ideas, sum up your recent findings, sum up your puzzles," the 76-year-old professor said. "I have benefited greatly from that environment."