Peter T. Leeson

I wish I'd had Professor Leeson when I was in college. He clearly knows how to make a topic that could be (usually is) pretty boring. And he avoids making a usually quite interesting topic (pirates) boring.

So how is the pirate life related to economics? Well read the book to find out completely, but the short version is a lot. And when it is over you'll know a lot more about both pirates and economics.

The professor uses a classical model of economics to explain things and I imagine some who hold to some newer economic theories might not like that, but this book is not really for them, it is designed to bring an awesome understanding of economics by using the real world example of piracy.

The author never really diminishes the real crimes committed by pirates, but he does avoid harsh judgements. From an economic standpoint it makes sense, but it might feel like the murder, robbery, etc is acceptable.

Well worth the read.… (altro)

The author makes much of the fact that pirates ran quasi-democratic organizations on their ships a hundred years before the Federalist Papers were written. This is not nearly as remarkable as he makes it sound. The average pirate crew only numbered about 60-70 people. Anthropology attests that quasi-democracies have since time immemorial been the rule rather than the exception in autonomous societies of this minuscule size. The problems of democratic organization in states with millions of citizens are of an entirely different nature.

The author's enthusiasm for pirate history is evident, but I think he greatly exaggerates the value of his "economic" explanations for pirate behavior and organization. He simply states logical reasons why pirate ships weren't ruled dictatorially, why they used their own flag, why they shared their loot equally etc. Most readers may not have thought of these reasons before, but they're quite obvious and they could be summarized in just a few paragraphs. The book becomes more and more boring as the author elaborates every simple point for 20-30 pages.

The final chapter "Secrets of Pirate Management" is a strange attempt to be humorous. It actually made me double-check if I had misread the name of the publisher, but no, Princeton University Press apparently approved even this garbage. The other chapters are alright for people who like pirates, but they aren't original or interesting from a social-scientific perspective. The organization of criminal activity has been treated from a much deeper theoretical perspective in David Skarbek's The Social Order of the Underworld.… (altro)