Maritime transport has been historically susceptible to piracy. While broad assessments suggest the impact of modern piracy causes large economic losses, the literature lacks quantification of the magnitude of the costs and the behavioral responses that underpin them. Here, we combine theory and...

Maritime piracy is a pressing global economic and security challenge, posing significant threats to international shipping and global trade. Contemporary piracy is intrinsically linked to matters of governance and economic marginalization fostered by the globalization of the world economy. The...

There have been calls to treat hackers as pirates and to enlist private companies as ‘privateers’ with the legal power to upend hacking operations. This led us to consider what our experience with maritime piracy can teach us about hackers and computer security. We found much of value in the...

A firm licenses a product to overlapping generations of heterogeneous consumers. Consumers may purchase the product, pirate/steal it, or forego it. Higher consumer types enjoy higher gross benefits and are caught stealing at a higher rate. The firm may commit to an out-of-court settlement policy...

In this paper, three steps are made. First, an effort is made to show a consequential effect of maritime insecurity on seafarers and marine professionals; they are at risk of a complicated string of processes that impact their lives. Second, there is the risk to the environment and property....

We show how uncertainty shapes the asset allocation, composition, productivity, and value of capital-intensive firms. We do so using detailed, near-universal data on shipping firms' new orders, secondary-market transactions, and demolition of ships. Firms curtail both the acquisition and...

We show how uncertainty shapes the asset allocation, composition, productivity, and value of capital-intensive firms. We do so using detailed, near-universal data on shipping firms' new orders, secondary-market transactions, and demolition of ships. Firms curtail both the acquisition and...

Many scholars argue that a major obstacle to eradicating the global problem of maritime piracy is the lack of a uniform definition of piracy. Their chief concern is that without a uniform definition, it is difficult to formulate responses on a systemic and global level. This article contends...

Intellectual property (IP) infringement has been characterized by over two hundred years of judicial opinions and scholarly writings as an antisocial behavior akin to theft and trespassing. Modern IP laws are faithful to this approach, punishing those who willfully infringe upon patent rights...

This paper analyzes the rise and demise of piracy off the coast of Somalia to highlight the interplay between public and private crime protection measures. Using unique data on attacks, hijacks, and ransoms, the authors estimate a structural model of Somali piracy to calculate the elasticity of...

We investigate the effect of delay on prices in bargaining situations using a data set containing thousands of captives ransomed from Barbary pirates between 1575 and 1692. Plausibly exogenous variation in the delay in ransoming provides ev- idence that negotiating delays decreased the size of...

In December 2018, Denmark published a new priority paper guiding its future engagement in the Gulf of Guinea to combat piracy and other types of maritime crime. Against such background, this DIIS report presents the main challenges to maritime security in the region and maps the actors and...

Despite a general agreement that piracy poses a significant threat to maritime shipping, empirical evidence regarding its economic consequences remains scarce. This paper takes a step towards filling the gap by combining firm-level Chinese customs data with information on pirate attacks to...

"Drawing on a wealth of understudied sources, historian Eleanor Hubbard explores the labor conflicts behind the rise of the English maritime empire. Freewheeling Elizabethan privateering attracted thousands of young men to the sea, where they acquired valuable skills and a reputation for...

Ever since its ‘birth', the conduct of piracy has shown a natural tendency to evolve, to change, and – under a legal perspective – to test and challenge traditional legal frameworks. Currently, one of the main issues is the correct legal qualification of ‘eco-protesters', who oppose...

Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf recently responded to some of my negative assessments of their influential 2007 piracy article. In this article I analyze their responses to my assessments. Several of their responses have the appearance of being plausible if they are read without...

Since the mid-2000s, piracy off the coast of Somalia has posed a serious threat to international shipping and the safety of seafarers. As a seafaring nation, combating Somali piracy quickly became an important security and foreign policy priority for Denmark. This report documents Denmark's...

This paper analyzes the rise and demise of piracy off the coast of Somalia to highlight the interplay between public and private crime protection measures. Using unique data on attacks, hijacks, and ransoms, the authors estimate a structural model of Somali piracy to calculate the elasticity of...

In this paper, I look at the possibility that sea pirates increase their performance over time. I consider three main determinants of performance as far as maritime piracy is concerned: The distance of the attacks which highly depends on the material and financial capacity of pirates, the...

This paper offers India's perspective on maritime security. The Indian Ocean is unique in comparison to the other oceans, as it only has access by ‘choke points'. This poses traditional threats, such as trade and challenges to territorial integrity. The author acknowledges that India's...

Although it was once considered inevitable that unauthorized copying would harm copyright owners, it is now understood that this is not necessarily the case. The concept of indirect appropriability played an important role in shaping this newer understanding. In recent years, however, many...

During one year, from September 2014 to September 2015, the PMAR-MASE project has produced the real-time traffic picture of the reporting ships (that use the AIS or LRIT automatic position reporting system) over the entire Western Indian Ocean, and delivered it via a web viewer to two...

Somalis have a long history in Europe; the first Somalis were seamen who arrived in the UK working on British ships at the beginning of the 20th century. Throughout different waves of migrations directly related to European colonial history, Somalis have settled down in various cities throughout...

Piracy for ransom remains a significant maritime security threat adversely affecting the interests of the shipping industry, maritime trade and the welfare of seafarers. The profits made by pirates through ransoms have made a number of states, including the UK, argue in favour of an absolute ban...

We study the economic impact of piracy on the supply chain of information goods. When information goods are sold to consumers via a retailer, in certain situations, a moderate dose of piracy seems to have a surprising positive impact on the profits of the manufacturer and the retailer, while, at...