September 1, 2016 at 4:45 pm

Economics Seminar | Private Security, Maritime Piracy and the Provision of International Public Safety, Sept. 30

The Economics Seminar series presents Dr. Gregory DeAngelo on Sept. 30 at 3 p.m. in the Bentley Annex 302 Conference Room.

They will discuss “Private Security, Maritime Piracy and the Provision of International Public Safety.”

Dr. Gregory DeAngelo

DeAngelo is Assistant Professor of Economics at West Virginia University.

Abstract: Private solutions to personal protection and property rights often evolve in environments that are weakly institutionalized. In this vein, we examine the effect of private maritime security on international public safety – through the reduction of piracy – by analyzing International Maritime Organization vessel security data from 2007 – 2014. We find strong evidence that private security generates a strong direct effect on piracy prevention, significantly decreasing the likelihood that a privately secured vessel is boarded, experiences a hostage situation or is hijacked. Additionally, we observe an external effect of private security, whereby as little as 10 percent of all vessels being privately secured significantly reduces the likelihood of an attack against unsecured vessels both contemporaneously and in the future, resulting in near eradication of piracy. Our work therefore contributes to the literature on the private provision of public goods, noting that the emergence of piracy prevention has been successfully provided through private efforts.