What Convict Ships Taught Me About Economics

I recently started my freshman year at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as a mechanical engineering student in the Chancellor’s Honors Program. I love problem solving and the process of engineering. So when my advisor told me at orientation that I’d have to take a class called Survey of Economics for my general education requirements, I figured it would be one of those classes you take, pass, and move on from. (History has always been that way for me.)

Then, on the first day, my professor did something I didn’t expect. Instead of talking about money or inflation or diving into vocabulary, she told a story about incentives, Australia, and convicts.

In the late 18th century, Britain’s prisons were overflowing. Part of the reason was American independence, which cut off the colonies where Britain used to send its convicts. So the government began shipping convicts to the other side of the world, to Australia, both to free up prison space at home and to build a new colony.

The problem was that on the early voyages, a huge number of convicts died. Ship captains were paid for every convict who boarded, so once the ship left port, a captain had no financial reason to spend money keeping anyone alive. One simple change fixed it: paying captains for every convict who arrived alive instead of every convict who boarded. Survival rates climbed to well over 95 percent, on a voyage of more than 15,000 miles that took months.

I think it’s incredible that such a simple economic change could make a world of difference on the humanitarian side. Nobody had to make the captains kinder people. The rules just had to reward the right outcome.

In the eight weeks since I started college, I’ve realized how many disciplines shape the way the world works, and that’s exactly why it’s worth taking them seriously. An artist needs to understand business. A coder needs to understand physics. An engineer needs to understand economics. If you don’t take the time to understand these other subjects, you won’t be able to make the most of your career.