Economics 397EP - ST-Economics of Piracy

This course uses piracy as a lens to explore how economies are organized outside of and in opposition to state regulation. We will explore how piracy functions as economic justice and economic warfare, and the organization of political economy within pirate communities. With piracy as a springboard, the course will go on to examine a number of different forms of illicit economic activity including smuggling, counterfeiting, human trafficking and gun running. These topics will allow us to interrogate key concepts in economic thought and to understand the role of institutions in regulating the economy. The course takes crime and informal economic activity to be an integral component in the wider economy and you will be introduced to methods of measuring illicit activity and its impact on the formal economy. The course readings are drawn from a broad array of disciplines, with a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches to these economic questions. It is hoped that by the end of the course you will have obtained a more sophisticated understanding of piracy, crime and informal activity and how they interact with the global economy.

To request Department Consent for enrollment in this class, students must complete an Economics Undergraduate Course Request form and attend class to obtain the instructor?s signature on the form before submitting it. The form and instructions are here: http://www.umass.edu/economics/CourseRequestFormFall2014.pdf.