The impact of piracy on economy.

[Zephaniah W Nash]

Does anyone have any general information on the impact piracy has had (particularly during the GAoP, of course, but any would be helpful) on the economy, either worldwide or on particular regions or countries?

Google searches are mostly turning up modern software, music, and movie piracy articles. Some of it is interesting, but not that helpful at this point.

Either information directly posted here, or links to useful sites would be greatly appreciated.

[Brit.Privateer]

Well, one thing to think about is that they must have been doing a lot of damage the shipping economy if the British government was willing to send out ships of war to capture and destroy the pirates.

[hurricane]

There's bits and pieces here and there, but I've never heard of a book that dealt with the issue alone. For example, there's some great data on Port Royal (pre and post earthquake) about trade there, including the tonnage of ships, cargoes, merchants, trade, trade routes and general value of the port as an economic center for the Caribbean. I'm sure there are other resources like this that could be tied together.

I hope someone has hold of something like this - it would be a great read!

-- Hurricane

[Capt. Sterling]

Well according to the local historians in Newport,RI, the town would not have become as rich and prosperous as it had without the major influence of pirates on the area's economy...

As they put it, At first a small seaport, it was the priates that came to trade the goods they plundered, and spend the money they had... that allowed Newport to flurish. As it grew, others moved in to stake a claim in business and settle down... but once the local merchants began to get rich and attract other successful commerce they wanted to become respectable as well and turned on the pirates, capturing and executing a large score of them... actually holding mass hangings at a time...

So you may want to contact folks or google more of the history of Newport... oh the White Horse Tavern is one of the original buildings to the time frame... it was supposedly a major hang out for pirates and is rumored to have a tunnel system beneath it for hiding goods..

I also heard rumor that last May a new book regarding Pirates and Newport came out... I have no clue how accurate it may be

[kass]

Zephaniah,

While focusing on the life and work of Dampier, A Pirate of Exquisite Mind by Diana and Michael Preston has a good deal of information on how piratical attacks on Spanish ships transporting gold out of Panama et al. hurt the Spanish economy while boosting the English, especially the colonial economy of Jamaica.

In addition to being a cracking good read, the book has an excellent biography and endnotes that will point you to more sources.

[blackjohn]

My apologies, but I'm feeling under the weather, so I'm taking the lazy man's path and just cutting and pasting links to things I've been reading...

http://www.piratebrethren.com/forum/viewto...topic.php?t=485

http://www.piratebrethren.com/forum/viewto...topic.php?t=476

http://www.piratebrethren.com/forum/viewto...topic.php?t=458

This is an interesting read...

http://www.amazon.com/New-England-Merchant...ie=UTF8&s=books

From there, you can probably dig up alot.

I agree with Kass about A Pirate of Exquisite Mind. It's a great read. However, I have read at least one review that had some negative comments on it.

A caveat, most of this stuff I've posted isn't about piracy per se, but about the colonial economy in general. But I believe one must view it as a whole system in order to understand how piracy fit in.

Oh, one last book to recommend... Bandits at Sea: A Pirate's Reader has at least two articles on pirates and economics.

[Captain Jim-sib]

Via Capt' Sterling:

Well according to the local historians in Newport,RI, the town would not have become as rich and prosperous as it had without the major influence of pirates on the area's economy...

The same goes for Bath, NC during Gov. Eden's tenure. Many pirates, including Blackbeard, and smugglers would fence their goods in Bath.

[Capt Thighbiter]

I'm surprised that no one has delved into this, a prime topic.

Think about it, at the time, almost all goods moved by water, especialy bulk goods. The food you ate, the oil you saw by, the clothes you wore and the tools you used, etc etc. Piracy disrupted this. SO the receipients never got what they had paid/waiting for. I think we underestimate the amount of disruption it caused. Imagine if hordes of hi-jackers were to intrupt the food supply to even one American city for a week. Imagine how the citizens might feel twords the hijackers. THe out cry to the authorities.

On the other hand, the city that the hijackers spend thier money will love these same people.

[kass]

...and the government to whom the "hijackers" owe a cut.

Remember that the American cities to whom trade was disrupted were English colonies at the time. And if disrupting their supply chain meant sticking it to old man Spain and stealing his gold, England couldn't be arsed.

Ain't no pirates quite as piratical as a government!

[Mission]

I am finally getting around to read an article from the Oct. 2009 Scientific American sent to me by many friends - Pirate Economics?: Captain Hook Meets Adam Smith. It's about a book that sounds like it indulges in the rampant intellectual tendency to try and force a piece of popular history to fit the academic author's model. Still, I though this was interesting (in that, when rephrased, it fits my intellectual model ):

"From where, then, did the myth of piratical lawlessness and anarchy arise? From the pirates themselves, who helped to perpetrate the myth to minimize losses and maximize profits. Consider the Jolly Roger flag that displayed the skull and crossbones. Leeson says it was a signal to merchant ships that they were about to be boarded by a marauding horde of heartless heathens; the nonviolent surrender of all booty was therefore perceived as preferable to fighting back. Of course, to maintain that reputation, pirates occasionally had to engage in violence, reports of which they provided to newspaper editors, who duly published them in gory and exaggerated detail. But as 18th-century English pirate Captain Sam Bellamy explained, “I scorn to do any one a Mischief, when it is not for my Advantage.” Leeson concludes, “By signaling pirates’ identity to potential targets, the Jolly Roger prevented bloody battle that would needlessly injure or kill not only pirates, but also innocent merchant seamen.”

In sum, pirates believed in what we today call marketing.

Where I would disagree is in dismissing this whole thing as a "myth". There was still a fair amount of lawlessness and anarchy from what I've read in various sources. I don't think it was as prevalent as many movies portray, but neither was it minimal or only for show. However, if this whole line of thought intrigues you, you will find the book title and author via that link.

[Fox]

It's not a bad book but, as Misson suggests, it does at times try to fit popular history into the author's academic model. Also, bear in mind that Leeson is an economist, not an historian. That's not necessarily a bad thing per se, but should be remembered when reading it. The basic premise of the book is not unreasonable: pirates acted according to their own best interests at the time. It just uses long words like signalling and productivity to make what ought to be a fairly obvious and simple point.

There's no new information in the book, and Leeson has done substantially less archival research than, say, Rediker, but it does look at the old information from a slightly different perspective.

In reference to the original question, this book actually has little or nothing to do with the economic impact of piracy.

Edited March 4, 2010 by Foxe

[Mission]

In reference to the original question, this book actually has little or nothing to do with the economic impact of piracy.

The article had to do with the effect of economics on the pirates.

Ok, it's pretty thin, but I couldn't find a reference to this article in the likely forums, although I thought I remembered there being one. I found this instead and I think it's fun to drag up old threads for those who haven't been hanging around in Twill since 2003. It sometimes starts whole new discussions. (Plus I disagree with the intellectual tendency to mangle data so it fits a model just to prove the scholar's point. I didn't want to highlight the book by creating a whole topic devoted to it. Call me nefarious. )

[Fox]

The article had to do with the effect of economics on the pirates.

Hmm, the book is less about the effect of economics on pirates than an economist's view of piracy

(Plus I disagree with the intellectual tendency to mangle data so it fits a model just to prove the scholar's point.

Mangling is quite a strong word, and there's nothing wrong necessarily with using a model to make a point - in many cases the point itself is the fact that certain data fit certain models. The most common crime of 'mangling' is the omission of evidence that doesn't fit the model, and here again it behoves the author to be careful, but also behoves the critic to be lenient. There are few, if any, absolutes in history. There will always be facts which do not fit the model, but it is impossible for any author to include every known exception. The common debates here about clothing are a good illustration of this point. We know that the evidence relating to clothing does not and cannot tell us what every sailor of a certain time-period wore, so there must always be room for exceptions - but that's exactly what they are: exceptions. However, the exceptions do not by any means prove that the model is wrong, only that it cannot be applied absolutely.

Call me nefarious. )

"Nefarious! Mission's looking for you"

[JohnnyTarr]

The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates (Hardcover) Peter T. Leeson

I found this book on Amazon but have yet to read it. So I don't know if it is any good or not.

Johnny Tarr

[hitman]

Warning O.O.P.

Three books that indirectly look at this topic but usually from the view of privateers and post GAOP. That being said they may prove to be thought provoking if not informative.

The Influance of Sea Power Upon History

The Confederate Privateers

And

Sea of Gray

Of these Sea of Gray deals most with economics. Sorry for going oop but such is my thought process or what passes for it.