Aaargh Matey
Aye and fetch me some grog would ye an make it the 12 yr old Appleton’s or ye’ll be keelhauled afore sunset ye scurvy dog.
Peter T. Leeson of Department of Economics at the University of West Virginia has just published an paper on the The Law and Economics of Pirate Organization.
This paper investigates the internal governance institutions of violent criminal enterprise by examining the law, economics, and organization of pirates. To effectively organize their banditry, pirates required mechanisms to prevent internal predation, minimize crew conflict, and maximize piratical profit. I argue that pirates devised two institutions for this purpose. First, I analyze the system of piratical checks and balances that crews used to constrain captain predation. Second, I examine how pirates used democratic constitutions to minimize conflict and create piratical law and order. Remarkably, pirates adopted both of these institutions before the United States or England. Pirate governance created sufficient order and cooperation to make pirates one of the most sophisticated and successful criminal organizations in history.
It’s a good read and you’ll learn a lot about the real life of Pyrates rather than what the movies give you.
Technorati Tags: Economics, The Law and Economics of Pirate Organization, pirates, Pyrates
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