Pirates and fishermen: Is less patrolling always bad?

Brishti Guha ()

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2012, vol. 81, issue 1, 29-38

Abstract: Motivated by the Somali fishermen–pirates, I explore the time allocation decision of potential pirates between piracy and an alternative non-violent occupation, fishing, when the returns of both piracy and fishing are sensitive to patrolling intensity. For a range of parameters, the static model yields multiple equilibria, an “efficient” one with no patrolling and low piracy, a less efficient equilibrium with intermediate levels of both piracy and patrolling and a highly inefficient high-patrolling high-piracy equilibrium. Analyzing the dynamic analogue, I obtain the surprising result that sufficiently low patrolling can be a good strategy.

Keywords: Pirates; Fishermen; Patrolling; Multiple equilibria; Policy responses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H40 J22 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:81:y:2012:i:1:p:29-38

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2011.09.012

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