Author Peter T. Leeson (born July 29, 1979), shows in this book how pirates instigated democratic practices for their mutual profit, ideas which preceded the methods of society in the 16th century.

[6] He cherished his skull ring from Disney World, appreciated the themes in "Goonies", and when he became an economics professor combined his favourite interests to his professional career.

Besides his teaching career, Leeson is known for exploring the obscure economic practices in different communities, including the democratic behaviour of pirates.

Smith’s concept outlined that an individual pursuing his self-interest is led by an invisible hand to promote societal interest.

The book’s chapters cover: The Invisible Hook is a non-fiction story that reveals the democratic and economic forces which drove pirates.

Throughout the book, Leeson claims that pirate actions had economic reasoning, both for mutual benefit as well as the success of their society.

The merchant ships’ ownership structure drove the autocratic organisation, and many captains leading their crews abused this power severely.

Instead of absolute ruling, pirates created a system of democratic checks and balances which would hold a captain accountable for the crew.

Constraining the captains’ ability benefited the crew's expense as it ensured cooperation between members, and more importantly, concreted piratical system and success.

The constitutions did many things, but in particular they prevented "negative externalities" that could occur by ensuring the cooperation of members, and created a "rule of law" which placed captains, quartermasters and other crew on an equal "legal" level.

By placing everyone on an equal level, crew members were encouraged to maintain a successful and hard-working ship which would ensure mutual gain.

Pirates also believed that the success of their flags "benefited" their victims as it prevented unnecessary bloodshed and loss of life by encouraging them to surrender.

These sailors were unwilling members of merchant vessels the pirates overtook, or they were men eager to get away from their own tyrannical situations.

To counteract this, and to encourage those enslaved to join their crew, pirates integrated bondsmen into their ships as completely free members.

[17] Edward Glaeser from the Economix blog identifies that Leeson's book uses the tools of economics to "make sense" of piracy.

[18] Virgil Henry Storr's[19] review of The Invisible Hook calls Leeson's "fantastic" book a demonstration that even a community of criminals can operate with a government.

Per L. Bylund's[20] review of The Invisible Hook describes that Leeson claims piratical enterprise "resembled a Fortune 500 company" and was conducted much like a for-profit business firm.

Bylund argues that there is not much evidence to support this view, and the extent of resemblance between a pirate ship and a modern-day corporation is not clear.

Kirman also identifies one of the "oldest problems" in economics that Leeson faces: arguing that pirates made their arrangements consciously with their collective interest in mind is essentially different from the idea of Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand", which is the idea that individual self interest, multiplied endlessly, results in an unconsciously created but successful economy.

Marcus Rediker’s book Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea [22] explored maritime life of pirates and alike but under a more Marxist-oriented analysis.