Defending Multiple Terrorist Targets

This paper analyzes a situation where multiple targets are exposed to a potential terrorist attack. The probability of an attack is determined endogenously in a game where a terrorist chooses the target while the targets independently determine the level of deterrence. As each target tries to divert...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lee, Sang hoon
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Korea Development Institute 2013-09-01
Series:KDI Journal of Economic Policy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.23895/kdijep.2013.35.3.91
Description
Summary:This paper analyzes a situation where multiple targets are exposed to a potential terrorist attack. The probability of an attack is determined endogenously in a game where a terrorist chooses the target while the targets independently determine the level of deterrence. As each target tries to divert an attack to others, the symmetric equilibrium becomes suboptimal and exhibits dispersion in the level of deterrence. The analysis shows that the first best deterrence level may be achieved when the targets can write a binding risk-sharing contract. Such a contract has limited applicability however as it suffers from a potential verification problem.
ISSN:2586-2995
2586-4130