Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me
One of the best podcasts comes from George Mason University's economics department: EconTalk. It's perfectly pitched at my level of economics learning, not too basic, not too advanced. I get excited every time a new podcast comes on line (though its current main project, going through Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments, leaves me cold). Last weekend, they put one of their most entertaining podcasts online:
Peter Leeson of George Mason University and author of The Invisible Hook talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the economics of 18th century pirates and what we can learn from their behavior. Leeson argues that pirates pioneered a number of important voluntary institutions such as constitutions as a way to increase the profitability of their enterprises. He shows how pirates used democracy and a separation of powers between the captain and the quartermaster to limit the potential for predation or abuse on the part of the captain. He explains the role of the Jolly Roger in limiting damages from conflict with victims. The conversation closes with a discussion of the lessons for modern management.
I listened to it Monday while walking to and from work. It was great stuff. It bolstered my half-baked theory that some forms of anarchism (can anarchism have a form?) could work in society. The pirates operated outside the law, so they were, in themselves, little islands of anarchy, but they had rules. Indeed, they even wrote them down (called a "ship's articles"), and pirates followed them, especially the captain, who, far from being a ruthless dictator over his crew, normally sought to exert the proper measure of power and justice . . . for fear of being tossed overboard himself. The podcast juxtaposes the pirate captain's sense of justice with his contemporary counter-part, the merchant ship captain, who was often cruel with his crew, knowing the force of law would hang a crew member for mutiny if he remotely disobeyed.
The podcast also filled-in a tiny hole in my historical knowledge. "Privateers" were independent contractors hired by their governments to attack enemy ships during wartime and confiscate their cargo. "Buccaneers" were privateers who turned to piracy during peace times. "Pirates" were just, well, pirates: complete outlaws. "Derived from pirates' predecessors, the buccaneers, who operated from about 1630-1690. In between pure pirates--Blackbeard and Calico Jack Rackham, early 18th century--and privateers, state-commissioned and sanctioned sea robbers. Buccaneers did some of that during wars, but when wars ended turned to outright piracy."
Hire a Better Lawyer
One of the more interesting passages from last weekend's reading:
When the king of Bithynia died he left his entire kingdom to the Roman Senate. The Bithynians had been loyal to Rome during the first revolt of Mithridates and they enjoyed tax immunity. The gift of the kingdom to Rome seemed like an appropriate way to show appreciation to the ever-so-generous Senate. The king did not realize the legal implications of this provision in his will. As a new Roman territory, Bithynia would no longer have tax immunity. It now had the same legal status as land that had been forfeited to Rome as punishment for rebellion. Bithynia was open for new taxation or rental in whatever form the Senate desired. This blunder by the king's lawyer was probably history's worst example of estate planning.
Charles Adams, For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization (Madison Books, 2001), pp. 91-92.
Make your own chips. Unfortunately, they frown on using a deep fryer.
Some good Leno: The big story is the Supreme Court. President Obama has found his nominee. She is Federal Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor. A Latino woman. You know what that means – Ruth Bader Ginsburg will no longer be the hot chick on the court. . . . The Republicans were a little disappointed. When they heard Obama say he might appoint a minority, they said, “Oh great, a Republican!” Then they realized.
Wasn't I just saying last week that Russia has become a mecca for the bizarre? A Russian woman got so upset by the news that her boyfriend intended to leave her that she tied several firecrackers to his penis and exploded them.
I used to read Muggeridge all the time. I haven't read much of his stuff recently, but I immediately recalled this passage when I stumbled upon it last night:
[I]t has become abundantly clear in the second half of the twentieth century that Western Man has decided to abolish himself. Having wearied of the struggle to be himself, he has created
his own boredom out of his own affluence,
his own impotence out of his own erotomania,
his own vulnerability out of his own strength;
himself blowing the trumpet that brings the walls of his own city tumbling down, and, in a process of auto-genocide, convincing himself that he is too numerous, and labouring accordingly with pill and scalpel and syringe to make himself fewer in order to be an easier prey for his enemies; until at last, having educated himself into imbecility, and polluted and drugged himself into stupefaction, he keels over a weary, battered old brontosaurus and becomes extinct.
