Economics of piracy Leeson's
Invisible Hook argues that Caribbean pirates developed an early form of constitutional
democracy and engaged in behaviors such as flying the
Jolly Roger because doing so maximized their profit. In the wake of the
Maersk Alabama hijacking, his work on piracy drew substantial media attention. In an article published by
National Public Radio, he said that "early 18th century pirates, men like
Blackbeard,
Bartholomew Roberts, and
John Rackham, were not only thieves. They were also early experimenters with some of the modern world's most cherished values, such as liberty, democracy, and equality." Although Leeson is careful to note that he does not praise the criminal actions of pirates, he argues that their self-organization is a useful illustration of how even criminal conduct is based on rational self-interest. In an interview published by
The New York Times, Leeson summarized his thesis: The idea of the invisible hook is that pirates, though they're criminals, are still driven by their self-interest. So they were driven to build systems of government and social structures that allowed them to better pursue their criminal ends.... The reason that the criminality is driving these structures is because they can't rely on the state to provide those structures for them. So pirates, more than anyone else, needed to figure out some system of law and order to make it possible for them to remain together long enough to be successful at stealing.
Economics of bizarre rituals and superstitions Leeson's book
WTF?! argues that practices which seem senseless, such as
trial by ordeal,
trial by combat, and oracular
divination, are in fact clever solutions devised by people to overcome social problems. A recurrent theme in his work is that "people—all of them, regardless of time or place, religion or culture, wealth, poverty, or anything else—are rational." Similarly, he maintains that all institutions, including those "that seem obviously inefficient—and, indeed, sometimes downright absurd—are in fact, on closer inspection, efficient and not so absurd after all."
Steven Levitt has described Leeson's book as "
Freakonomics on steroids" and described Leeson as "one of the most creative young economists around."
Tim Harford called Leeson's
WTF?! "one of the most original books I've ever read."
Economics of anarchy Leeson has written extensively on what he describes as "the economics of
anarchy" and has suggested that "
self-governance works better than you think."
Avinash Dixit described Leeson's book
Anarchy Unbound: Why Self-Governance Works Better Than You Think as "an eye-opener," and
Robert Ellickson described it as "masterly." According to Leeson: [T]he case for anarchy derives its strength from empirical evidence, not theory.... Despite... significant arenas of anarchy we do not observe perpetual world war in the absence of global government, shriveling international commerce in the absence of supranational commercial law, or even deteriorating standards of living in Somalia. On the contrary, peace overwhelmingly prevails between the world's countries, international trade is flourishing, and Somali development has improved under statelessness. ==Views==