Pushing the Prize Up, a Few Notes on Al-Qaeda's Reward Structure and the Choice of Casualties

Abstract

The article aims at suggesting possible conjectures on Al-Qaeda's logic and structure. Even if the organization's secrecy makes any empirical evidence difficult to find, some insight can be provided by economic theory of contests: in this terms, Al-Qaeda can be acknowledged like an agent rewarding a prize (membership) to its clients (cells and would-be cells). Although this principle makes the organization hardly visible and virtually impenetrable, we contend that in the long term such a logic is non-sustainable.

Keywords: Terrorism, microeconomic theory, prize, contest

JEL Classification: D70, D74