一艘海盜船,就像一家《財富》五百強企業,
海盜只是多了義肢和鸚鵡的生意人!
亞當.史密斯說:經濟活動的背後是一隻「看不見的手」;
虎克船長說:錯啦,經濟活動的背後是一支「看不見的鉤子」!
其實我們都是海盜,因為自私自利所以互相合作,
人類經濟活動運作的原則與秩序,說穿了,還是從海盜們身上學來的!
四百年前的海盜,已准許黑人水手加入集團,不僅給予黑人自由人的身份,甚至也能與其它成員公平分享打劫擄掠的成果。在那惡名昭彰的骷髏旗之下,海盜們竟比美國更早實踐廢奴主義──這,是怎麼發生的?
在刑求、擄掠、為求組織擴張的海盜徵募制度背後,推動海盜船前進的是連亞當.史密斯《國富論》都比不上的「海盜經濟學」──一切看似燒殺擄掠的行為背後,都以追求最大利潤為原則,而在追求利潤的目標之下,其實運用的是公平合理的發財之道:
他們沒有民主概念,卻已運用一切民主的方法維持船上秩序與運作──他們建立分權體系、落實權力制衡;制定海盜憲章、舉辦選舉、落實法治;海盜們深信,唯有透過合情合理的制度,才能讓水手們之間齊心協力、同舟共濟,一同創造最可觀的財富。四百年前的一條海盜船,竟然先進的猶如現代的經濟強國;一條海盜船的利潤,竟可比一家《財富》五百強企業!
作者彼得.里森這位年輕的經濟學家,自言最愛的就是海盜與經濟學,於是將兩個他最愛的主題結合在一起,第一篇文章就受到《蘋果橘子經濟學》作者青睞,刊載在他負責的期刊上,受到廣泛矚目,也因此到芝加哥大學擔任訪問院士。
在這本書中,作者把海盜船變成一個經濟學實驗室,沒有國家、警察、偏見的干涉,只有一群想要賺大錢的人,在這個狀況下,會發展出怎樣的管理制度?換句話說,這不僅是一套海盜經濟學,也是一套海盜管理學,誰還敢說海盜不文明?其實我們都該向海盜學習!
Pack your cutlass and blunderbuss--it’s time to go a-pirating! The Invisible Hook takes readers inside the wily world of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century pirates. With swashbuckling irreverence and devilish wit, Peter Leeson uncovers the hidden economics behind pirates’ notorious, entertaining, and sometimes downright shocking behavior. Why did pirates fly flags of Skull & Bones? Why did they create a "pirate code"? Were pirates really ferocious madmen? And what made them so successful? The Invisible Hook uses economics to examine these and other infamous aspects of piracy. Leeson argues that the pirate customs we know and love resulted from pirates responding rationally to prevailing economic conditions in the pursuit of profits.
The Invisible Hook looks at legendary pirate captains like Blackbeard, Black Bart Roberts, and Calico Jack Rackam, and shows how pirates’ search for plunder led them to pioneer remarkable and forward-thinking practices. Pirates understood the advantages of constitutional democracy--a model they adopted more than fifty years before the United States did so. Pirates also initiated an early system of workers’ compensation, regulated drinking and smoking, and in some cases practiced racial tolerance and equality. Leeson contends that pirates exemplified the virtues of vice--their self-seeking interests generated socially desirable effects and their greedy criminality secured social order. Pirates proved that anarchy could be organized.
Revealing the democratic and economic forces propelling history’s most colorful criminals, The Invisible Hook establishes pirates’ trailblazing relevance to the contemporary world.
本書中譯版《海盜船上的經濟學家:為何四百年前的海盜能建立最好的經濟制度?》由行人文化實驗室出版。
作者簡介
彼得.里森 Peter T. Leeson
1979年生,年僅三十歲即取得正教授資格,並於美國喬治.梅森大學(George Mason University)擔任BB&T講座教授。