"Soft Targets" as Schelling Points

[eli+ at gs160.sp.cs.cmu.edu]

Tim May writes:
>Schelling points need not involve "coordination" between actors, though
>Schelling points provide one means of coordination without communication
>(e.g., where does each think a meeting will occur).
>
>Schelling points are like "The Match Game" (an old t.v. show largely
>written by one of the main contributors to "Mad Magazine").  Namely, "Name
>a place likely to be attacked by terrorists."

This isn't EconPunks, so I'll just say I haven't seen the term used
except in the context of tacit coordination (see <http://www.best.com/
~ddfr/Academic/Property/Property.html> for some examples).  There is
some coordination here, I guess: terrorists and television crews both
benefit from being in the same place when the bomb goes off.  But this
probably isn't a driving motivation for either.

--
   Eli Brandt
   eli+ at cs.cmu.edu