The Volokh Conspiracy - The Market Has Spoken

Despite the surge in Somali piracy and encouragement from some employees of the U.S. government, commercial ships aren’t choosing to put armed guards on their vessels. And with good reason: given present conditions, anyway, it’s a bad idea.

…Pirates aren’t treating hostages well because they’re nice guys. They’re treating hostages well because it pays to do so. A dead hostage fetches no ransom and pirates’ business model would collapse if they injured prisoners or allowed them to die. The economics of piracy has a simple bottom line: for all the problems piracy may pose, the threat of dead and injured innocents isn’t one of them.

That could change, however, if commercial ships starting carrying armed guards on their ships. Armed guards will of course defend against pirate attacks, potentially leading to fire fights that could jeopardize innocent sailors’ lives. The prospect of having to battle for their prizes will deter some pirates. But others will remain undeterred. And for the remaining industry, armed guards’ effect may very well be to increase the dangers that piracy poses rather than reducing them.

The profit-driven behavior of commercial shippers corroborates this possibility

Hey, dumbass - there is more to life than profit margins. More to international relations and national defense, as well.

For the rest of you - recall that old Marxist wheeze: “The capitalists will sell us the rope we hang them with?”

The notion that resisting piracy is a bad idea because not doing so doesn’t much affect profits is simply validating that bit of reasoning.

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