We study the role of an imbalance in fighting strengths when players bargain in the shadow of conflict. Our experimental results suggest: In a simple bargaining game with an exogenous mediation proposal, the likelihood of conflict is independent of the balance of power. If bargaining involves...

Competition in which goods or rents are allocated as a function of the various efforts expended by players in trying to win these goods or rents is a very common phenomenon. A subset of examples comes from marketing, litigation, relative reward schemes or promotion tournaments in internal labor...

Evidence from early terrorist groups reveals a structural equivalence between extortion and terrorism. This allows us to draw conclusions from the theory of extortion that can be applied to a theory of terrorism concerning the role of repeated play in the viability of extortion. It also enables...