Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/119380 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
Economics of Security Working Paper No. 54
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
Naval counter-piracy measures off Somalia have failed to change the incentives for pirates, raising calls for land-based approaches that may involve replacing piracy as a source of income. This paper evaluates the effects of piracy on the Somali economy to establish which (domestic) groups benefit from ransom monies. Given the paucity of economic data on Somalia, we evaluate province-level market data, nightlight emissions and high resolution satellite imagery. We show that significant amounts of ransom monies are spent within Somalia. The impacts appear to be spread widely, benefiting the working poor and pastoralists and offsetting the food price shock of 2008 in the pirate provinces. Pirates appear to invest their money principally in the main cities of Garowe and Bosasso rather than in the backward coastal communities.
Subjects: 
Somalia
piracy
cash transfers
economic development
remote sensing
satellite imaging
JEL: 
K42
O17
O18
R11
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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