Elinor Ostrom (1933-2012) became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics when she received the honor along with Oliver Williamson from University of California-Berkeley for their work analyzing the rules by which people exercise authority in companies and economic systems. Ostrom was a longtime faculty member at Indiana University-Bloomington and most recently served as the Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science. Ostrom's research investigated the ways in which communities have successfully managed "common pool" resources, such as water, fisheries, and forests through self-governance within civil society.

Due to an illness, Joel Mokyr presented the keynote address in Ostrom’s place. Mokyr, who specializes in economic history and the economics of technological change and population change, is the Robert H. Strotz Professor of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Economics and History at Northwestern University. By special appointment, he also serves as the Sackler Professor at the Eitan Berglas School of Economics at the University of Tel Aviv.