Book : The Invisible Hook The Hidden Economics Of Pirates -.

-Titulo Original : The Invisible Hook The Hidden Economics Of Pirates

-Fabricante :

Princeton University Press

-Descripcion Original:

Review One of San Francisco Chronicles 100 Best Books for 2009Winner of the 2009 Best International Nonfiction Book, WeekWinner of the 2009 Gold Medal Book of the Year Award in Business and Economics, ForeWord ReviewsA brisk, clever new book, The Invisible Hook, by Peter T. Leeson, an economist who claims to have owned a pirate skull ring as a child and to have had supply-and-demand curves tattooed on his right biceps when he was seventeen, offers a different approach. Rather than directly challenging pirates leftist credentials, Leeson says that their apparent espousal of liberty, equality, and fraternity derived not from idealism but from a desire for profit.---Caleb Crain, New Yorker[S]urprising and engaging . . . . [Leesons] seminars must be wildly popular.---Stephen Sedley, London Review of BooksEconomist Leeson leads readers though a surprisingly entertaining crash course in economics in this study of high seas piracy at the turn of the 18th century. . . . Illustrated with salty tales of pirates both famous and infamous, the book rarely bogs down even when explaining intricate economic concepts, making it a great introduction to both pirate history and economic theory. Publishers WeeklyMr. Leesons book represents a serious attempt to use the tools of economics to make sense of the institutions of piracy. The book is another example of economic imperialism, the use of economics to make sense of real world phenomena that are outside the standard realm of economic science. It addresses an important force that did, and does, impact world trade. But as the skull and crossbones on its spine suggests, the book is also just fun. . . . [T]he book manages to be entertaining and informative. It is a fun read and provides parents with something to teach their children while looking for pirate treasure left long ago at the beach.---Edward Glaeser, Economix blogThe Invisible Hook is an excellent book by one of the most creative young economists around.---Steven D. Levitt, Freakonomics blogPeter T. Leeson has done his part to dispel the pirate myths by using economic theory to explain pirate behavior and organization in his exemplary new book. . . . Mr. Leeson has produced a fresh perspective on an old topic. . . . The Invisible Hook is quick-paced but thought-provoking. Based on this work, the reader should look forward to more books by the author.---Claude Berube, Washington TimesPiracy has not been Leesons only obsession. The other has been economics. When he was 17 years old he had supply and demand curves tattooed on his right bicep . . . now the professor has brought his two enthusiasms together in a wonderful (and wonderfully titled) new book. The Invisible Hook is his study of the hidden economics of piracy.---Daniel Finkelstein, TimesJauntily characterising the typical pirate ship as akin to a Fortune 500 company, [Leeson] reorients pirates as precursors of Milton Friedman and the Chicago school of economics.---Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, Financial TimesOne of the finest introductory courses in economics since Henry Hazlitts Economics in One Lesson. . . . The Invisible Hook is a good addition to the genre of popular economics: a fun and enlightening read, and rock solid in its scholarly bona fides.---Michael Shermer, NatureFrom countless films and books we all know that, historically, pirates were criminally insane, traitorous thieves, torturers and terrorists. Anarchy was the rule, and the rule of law was nonexistent. Not so, dissents George Mason University economist Peter Leeson in his myth-busting book, The Invisible Hook, which shows how the unseen hand of economic exchange produces social cohesion even among pirates.---Michael Shermer, Scientific AmericanGiven the flurry of piracy off the Somali coast in 2009, this relatively short narrative could not be timelier. The Invisible Hook, a play on Adam Smiths famous invisible hand, is an engaging, informative look at the economics of p