Summary of Peter T. Leeson's The Invisible Hook

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The Hook was the invisible force that propelled the pirates. It was the fear that the pirates instilled in the world’s most powerful governments.

#2 The invisible hand is the hidden force that guides economic cooperation. It is the result of people’s self-interest being directed towards serving the interests of others. It is a key concept in economics.

#3 The economic way of thinking is applied to pirates. It assumes that individuals are self-interested, rational, and respond to incentives. When the law made it riskier for pirates to be caught, they developed ways to offset this risk.

#4 When we view pirates through the lens of economics, their seemingly unusual behavior becomes quite common. Pirates were a business, and their actions were motivated by the economic context they operated in, which generated unusual costs and benefits.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822513037

IRB Media

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Insights on Peter T. Leeson's The Invisible Hook

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Hook was the invisible force that propelled the pirates. It was the fear that the pirates instilled in the world’s most powerful governments.

#2

The invisible hand is the hidden force that guides economic cooperation. It is the result of people’s self-interest being directed towards serving the interests of others. It is a key concept in economics.

#3

The economic way of thinking is applied to pirates. It assumes that individuals are self-interested, rational, and respond to incentives. When the law made it riskier for pirates to be caught, they developed ways to offset this risk.

#4

When we view pirates through the lens of economics, their seemingly unusual behavior becomes quite common. Pirates were a business, and their actions were motivated by the economic context they operated in, which generated unusual costs and benefits.

#5

There were many different types of sea bandits, and each was different. Pure pirates were total outlaws, who attacked merchant ships indiscriminately for their own gain. Privateers were state-sanctioned sea robbers who attacked and seized enemy nations’ merchant ships during war. Buccaneers were typically pirates.

#6

The pirate population was large, and it was growing rapidly. In any one year between 1716 and 1726, between 1,000 and 2,000 pirates were active in the Caribbean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian