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Ulric B. and Evelyn L. Bray Social Sciences Seminar

Wednesday, October 16, 2019
4:00pm to 5:00pm
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Baxter B125
The Strategy and Technology of Conflict
Sandeep Baliga, John L. and Helen Kellogg Professor of Managerial Economics & Decision Sciences, Northwestern University,

Abstract: Using a simple conflict bargaining game, we study how the strategic interaction is shaped by underlying preferences over a contested territory and by the technology of conflict. We find a non-monotonic relationship between the cost of conflict and the probability of war, and conditions under which a conflict becomes more likely when a militarily weaker player catches up with a stronger one. With risk-averse players, the game has strategic complements if the cost of conflict is small and there is a large first-mover advantage, and strategic substitutes otherwise. This characterization generates predictions regarding strategic investments, e.g., in defense systems. A two-period version of the model illustrates the trade-off between expanding one's territory today and expecting more conflicts in the future. As a whole, our paper provides a micro foundation for Thomas Schelling's informal arguments and for the more recent formal models inspired by his work.

For more information, please contact Letty Diaz by phone at 626-395-1255 or by email at [email protected].