Course description
Piracy is a phenomenon that appeared more or less concurrently with maritime trade and has persisted ever since, taking on various forms and developing together with society and technologies. The notion of piracy is closely linked with international trade, property rights protection, wealth redistribution and a number of other economic concepts. Our course aims at considering piracy from the economic point of view but relating it to law, history and culture where appropriate.
The course has three main parts. The first part discusses economic reasons for ‘classic’ piracy and its persistence, the changing scope of piracy (from sea-oriented to ocean oriented), the co-existence of its different forms and the various policies to counteract it. This part will be connected with different historical situations and the students will be encouraged to discuss the history of Venice in the context of Mediterranean piracy.
The second part discusses in more detail the so-called ‘golden age’ of piracy and the various institutional arrangements within pirate communities that ensured their functioning, as well as institutional mechanisms that either supported the piracy or worked against it. This part also discusses sustainability issues related to piracy and its counteracting policies. Two classic adventure novels — Treasure Island by R. L. Stevenson and Captain Blood by R. Sabatini — will be read alongside one another and discussed during this part of the course.
The third part of the course discusses modern aspects of piracy; that is, digital piracy and issues of copyright protection. This part is concerned with the economic origins of piracy, the distinction between piracy and other violations of intellectual property rights, as well as the various pros and cons of developing strict authors’ rights. This part will discuss how digital piracy affects business models, and how it is related to inequality, perception of justice and different kinds of social contract. In this part the students will debate the benefits and costs of online piracy for society as a whole.

Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
• explain the notions of ‘classic’ and digital piracy;
• understand the main economic concepts related to the various aspects of piracy;
• explain how institutional arrangements contribute to the development or decline of piracy;
• understand the evolution of different forms of piracy and explain how these connect to countries’ economic development;
• explain how institutional arrangements within pirate groups helped increase their efficiency;
• explain how justice figures in the institutional organization of piracy groups and on a larger scale in institutional arrangements vis-à-vis pro/anti-piracy policies;
• understand the debates surrounding digital piracy, intellectual property rights, economic development and international trade;
• understand the definition of network externalities and their implications for digital piracy;
• explain how piracy is related to sustainability and how this relationship changes with economic growth.

Key topics
• Economics of market allocation;
• Supply and demand;
• Market efficiency and market failures;
• Externalities, public goods and piracy;
• Evolution of economic systems;
• Property rights as an attribute of an economic good;
• Social values, norms and piracy;
• Institutional economics;
• Network externalities;
• Digital piracy.

Prerequisites
This course has no prerequisites. However, some basic mathematics, algebra, and graphing will be used.

Evaluation methods
Presentations and debates 40%
Mid-term test 20%
Course project 40%

The students will be given several tasks for presentations (individual and group) and debates throughout the course, related to different aspects of piracy. Presentations have to be explicitly linked to relevant economic, social and ethical concepts.
A Mid-term test will contain a number of multiple-choice and open questions covering the studied material in order to monitor understanding and progress in the middle of the course (the week before Easter break).
A Course project will be presented by the students during the last week of the course. In the course project the students should thoroughly discuss their chosen topic from all economically relevant perspectives. The students are also expected to submit a course paper of about 10–12 pages containing the detailed description of the course project.

Bibliography
Core texts
LEESON P., (2011), The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates. Princeton University Press.
MANKIW N. G., (2014), Principles of Economics, 7th ed. South-Western, Cengage Learning.
OLSON M., (2000), Power and Prosperity. Basic Books.
VARIAN H., (2014), Intermediate Microeconomics: A Modern Approach, 9th ed. W. W. Norton & Company.

Additional readings
SABILLON C., (2008), On the Causes of Economic Growth: The Lessons of History. Algora Publishing.
TODD D., (2011), Pirate Nation: How Digital Piracy Is Transforming Business Society and Culture. Kogan Page Ltd.

Fiction books
SABATINI R., Captain Blood. Link
STEVENSON R. L., Treasure Island. Link

Further readings will be suggested during classes. Obligatory readings will vary between 50 and 70 pages per week.