On the hospital as commons

Abstract

Draws parallels between the contemporary community hospital and the traditional agricultural commons. Identifies four principal attributes of common field agriculture and matches them to contemporary arrangements in the management of the facilities of the community hospital. Points to several notable parallels between the modern workplace and the contemporary, natural resource commons. Hypothesizes that, as the post‐medieval sea change of social values transformed agriculture – most dramatically by the enclosure of the commons – so a sea change in values today is changing health care, inviting the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions reminiscent of the enclosing of the commons.

Citation

O’Boyle, E.J. and O’Boyle, M.P. (1995), "On the hospital as commons", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 22 No. 7, pp. 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/03068299510764226