Main description: What can today's corporate raiders learn from the scourge of the high seas? A lot, as it turns out! Pirates have a surprising amount to teach about building better organizations, promoting diversity in the workplace, and creating powerful brands, among many other business...

The invisible hook -- Vote for Blackbeard. The economics of pirate democracy -- An-arrgh-chy. The economics of the pirate code -- Skull & bones. The economics of the Jolly Roger -- Walk the plank. The economics of pirate torture -- Pressing pegleg. The economics of pirate conscription -- Equal...

Cover -- Tour Stops -- Waiting in the Lobby -- 1. Your Favorite Acronym -- 2. Burn, Baby, Burn -- 3. FSBO: Like-New, Preowned Wife -- 4. Public Uses for Private Parts -- 5. God Damn -- 6. Chicken, Please -- Hold the Poison -- 7. Jiminy Cricket's Journey to Hell -- 8. Fighting Solves Everything...

Why do criminals use constitutions? This paper argues that constitutions perform three critical functions in criminal organizations. First, criminal constitutions promote consensus by creating common knowledge among criminals about what the organization expects of them and what they can expect...

Gustav Ranis addresses our recent article ("What Can Aid Do?" Skarbek and Leeson 2009) where we argued that foreign aid is unable to solve the economic problem and thus unable to make poor countries rich. This paper response to his objections

Foreign aid's advocates claim aid has been successful. Aid's critics claim aid has failed. We explain why both camps are correct. Aid can, and in a few cases has, increased a particular output by devoting more resources to its production. In this sense, aid has occasionally had limited success....

Foreign aid's advocates claim aid has been successful. Aid's critics claim aid has failed. We explain why both camps are correct. Aid can, and in a few cases has, increased a particular output by devoting more resources to its production. In this sense, aid has occasionally had limited success....