Article

Killing for the Sake of Infamy: The Herostratos Syndrome and What to Do about it

Jean-Paul Azam, and Mario Ferrero

Abstract

The Herostratos syndrome affects some people who perpetrate odious attacks for the sake of infamy. We suggest that this sheds some useful light to explain the wave of mass killing going on in Europe and North America, including school shootings and Jihadist terrorism, within a game-theoretic framework. The analysis points out that policies aimed at countering this type of violence should focus on trivializing these attacks and reducing the publicity that they get in the media.

Replaces

Jean-Paul Azam, and Mario Ferrero, Killing for the Sake of Infamy: The Herostratos Syndrome and What to Do about it, TSE Working Paper, n. 16-700, September 2016.

Reference

Jean-Paul Azam, and Mario Ferrero, Killing for the Sake of Infamy: The Herostratos Syndrome and What to Do about it, Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, vol. 22, n. 4, November 2016, pp. 357–364.

Published in

Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, vol. 22, n. 4, November 2016, pp. 357–364