Summary This paper presents an institutional analysis of the underlying factors affecting the performance of community-based drinking water organizations in rural Costa Rica. More than 1,000 of these organizations provide water to 60% of the rural population and show great disparity in their...

The grammar of institutions developed by Crawford and Ostrom presents a common syntax for analysing institutions and dismantles them into their components. This is a promising undertaking given the huge diversity of definitions of institutions, even within a single discipline. Additionally, the...

Sechura Bay in Northern Peru represents the most important location to produce the Peruvian bay scallop 16 (Argopecten purpuratus) – not only on national but also international level. This business emerged from 17 the initiative of a hand full of small-scale entrepreneurial dive fishers...

This paper presents an institutional analysis of the underlying factors affecting the performance of drinking-water community organizations in rural areas of Costa Rica. These organizations provide water to more than 60 percent of the total rural population. There is, however, a great disparity...