Negotiating Ransoms: The Economics of Kidnapping

Anja Shortland is a professor of political economy at King’s College, London who specializes in the economics of crime. She is the author of Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business and Lost Art: The Art Loss Register Casebook Volume One.

• How many people are kidnapped every year for ransom, and how many actually return from the ordeal alive?
• What incentives do kidnappers have to treat hostages nonviolently and bargain for their release in good faith?
• How do insurers keep vulnerable clients from letting down their guard once a policy has been obtained?
• The protection theory that explains how crime organizations (e.g., the mafia) effectively stabilize the kidnap-for-ransom industry.
• Why offering a higher ransom than demanded is the worst strategy for ensuring a hostage's safe release.
• And much more...

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/651

Miss our conversation with Somali pirate hostage Michael Scott Moore? Catch up with episode 115: Michael Scott Moore | What It’s Really like to Be a Pirate Hostage here!

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