The Shape of Things to Come? Assessing the Effectiveness of Suicide Attacks and Targeted Killings

David Jaeger and M. Daniele Paserman

No 54, Working Papers from Department of Economics, College of William and Mary

Abstract: In this paper we assess the effectiveness of suicide attacks and targeted killings in the Second Intifada. We find evidence that the targeted killings of Palestinian leaders by Israel reduce realized Palestinian violence. We find, however, that intended Palestinian violence is increasing at low levels of targeted killings, but decreasing at higher levels. There is little evidence to suggest that suicide bombings against Israelis reduce the number of subsequent Palestinian fatalities. Rather, we find that suicide attacks that kill at least one Israeli lead to subsequent increased incidence and levels of Palestinian fatalities. Our results do not support the notion that suicide attacks and targeted killings follow the "tit-for-tat" pattern that is commonly postulated in the literature.

Keywords: suicide terrorism; targeted killings; assassinations; Second Intifada; Palestinians; Israel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C32 D71 D74 H56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2007-07-17
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Working Paper: The Shape of Things to Come? Assessing the Effectiveness of Suicide Attacks and Targeted Killings (2007)
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