Comment.Leeson.Canonicalx

The Economics of “Certaine Lewd and Ill-Disposed Persons”: Comment on Leeson October 31, 2009 Art Carden* Department of Economics and Business Rhodes College 2000 North Parkway Memphis TN 38112 cardena@rhodes.edu Fax: 901-843-3736 Keywords: Austrian Economics, New Institutional Economics, pirates, trade, organization, rent-seeking JEL Codes: A11, A12, B53, D02, D23, F13, F15, N40, N41, N43, N90 Abstract In The Invisible Hook, Peter T. Leeson explores “the hidden economics of pirates.” The implications of his work are many, and there are several clear ways in which scholars can build on his insights. First, exploring piracy helps us better understand the rent-seeking societies of mercantilist Europe. Second, public and private policy toward pirates helps us better understand the institutions and organizations that emerge in order to govern and manage common resources. Third, the nearly universal condemnation of pirates by religious authorities and political leaders as well as the association of pirates with the demonic and Satanic suggests further directions for research into the interactions between ideology, politics, and economic institutions. *-Assistant Professor. This essay was prepared for a symposium on Peter T. Leeson’s The Invisible Hook, to be held at the Southern Economic Association meetings in San Antonio on November 23, 2009. I thank the student workers at Rhodes College (particularly Kelly Gillean and Dan ...