Mariners and Markets

This work sets out to challenge the belief that the market for seafarers, in the days before steam, was efficient - conforming more or less to a strong prior belief in the neo-classical economic model of supply and demand. The historical literature on the subject is strewn with references to "crimping" or "shanghaiing", naval press-gangs, desertion, mutiny, marooning and shipwrecks due to drunkenness and negligence. Kindleberger looks at the issues of recruitment and pay, the treatment of seamen ashore and afloat and the question of government intervention and its impact on efficiency.