Articles liés à The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates

The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates - Couverture rigide

Leeson, Peter

 
9780691137476: The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates
Couverture rigide
ISBN 10 : 0691137471 ISBN 13 : 9780691137476
Editeur : Princeton University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Pack your cutlass and blunderbuss - it's time to go a-pirating! "The Invisible Hook" takes readers inside the wily world of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century pirates. With swashbuckling irreverence and devilish wit, Peter Leeson uncovers the hidden economics behind pirates' notorious, entertaining, and sometimes downright shocking behavior. Why did pirates fly flags of Skull & Bones? Why did they create a 'pirate code'? Were pirates really ferocious madmen? And what made them so successful? "The Invisible Hook" uses economics to examine these and other infamous aspects of piracy. Leeson argues that the pirate customs we know and love resulted from pirates responding rationally to prevailing economic conditions in the pursuit of profits. "The Invisible Hook" looks at legendary pirate captains like Blackbeard, Black Bart Roberts, and Calico Jack Rackam, and shows how pirates' search for plunder led them to pioneer remarkable and forward-thinking practices. Pirates understood the advantages of constitutional democracy - a model they adopted more than fifty years before the United States did so. Pirates also initiated an early system of workers' compensation, regulated drinking and smoking, and in some cases practiced racial tolerance and equality. Leeson contends that pirates exemplified the virtues of vice - their self-seeking interests generated socially desirable effects and their greedy criminality secured social order. Pirates proved that anarchy could be organized. Revealing the democratic and economic forces propelling history's most colorful criminals, "The Invisible Hook" establishes pirates' trailblazing relevance to the contemporary world.

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À propos de l'auteur

Peter T. Leeson is the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism in the Department of Economics at George Mason University.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Princeton University Press
Date d'édition
2009
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0691137471
ISBN 13 
9780691137476
Reliure
Relié
Nombre de pages
288
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible