Arr-gust is International Pirate Month, which got me thinking about the economy of pirates.
Pirates? As in history’s most notorious criminals; those motley, murderous men who terrorized the waters inspiring fear? Yes, those pirates. Not the fictional characters as depicted in Pirates of the Caribbean, but the real pirates from the golden age, like Blackbeard and Calico Jack, who were pioneers of social organization.
To apply basic economic ways of thinking to pirating, you must ground them in a few straightforward assumptions. First, the assumption that individuals are self-interested. Second, that individuals are rational. Third, individuals respond to incentives; they try to avoid costs, and capture benefits. Economists call this model of individual decision making “rational choice” 1. Lifting the lid on the treasure chest, I discovered that pirates satisfied each of these assumptions. For example, pirates were self-interested. Material concerns led to pirating and strongly motivated them. Pirates were also highly rational, devising ingenious and mischievous practices to circumvent costs that threatened to eat into their profits and increase the revenue of their plundering expeditions. Pirates also responded to incentives. When pirates offered crew members’ rewards for outstanding pirating, crew members worked harder to be on the lookout for the next big treasure, and so on.
Economics can be applied to pirates because rational choice may be the only way to truly understand the odd, outrageous, and shocking pirate practices. When we view pirates through the analytical lens of economics their seemingly unusual behavior becomes quite ordinary. A pirate ship more closely resembled a Fortune 500 company because, parrots and peg-legs aside, at the end of the day, piracy was a business. A criminal business to be sure, but a business nonetheless.
Southbury is not a haven for pirates with a port to plunder, but it does harbor a crew of capitalist-minded individuals making rational choices of where to start, expand or relocate their business. With encouragement, they could be motivated to move this economy forward. Perhaps if we foster creativity, incentivize ingenuity, celebrate our successes and create collaborative work spaces, the ship of economic opportunity will dock on our shores. If our community invests in education and the enterprising ideas of our youth, offers access to resources, provides reasonably-priced living options, and follows the principle that a rising tide lifts all boats, we will forge our way forward to even higher ground.
If you are interested in starting a business in Southbury and flying your flag, call the Office of Economic Development at 203.262.0683 or e-mail EcoDevDirector@southbury-ct.gov.
Kevin Bielmeier
Economic Development Director
Town of Southbury
EcoDevDirector@southbury-ct.gov
(203) 262-0683
[This article first appeared in Southbury Neighbors magazine.]
References
- Leeson, Peter T. “The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates” (2009)