In my book “Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business” I analyze the tricky question of how much to pay using the tools of economics and look at the problem from the perspective of all parties. Depending on how the victim’s representatives respond, the kidnappers will either revise the ransom upwards or downwards. So, the best response to a ransom demand is to never agree immediately to a kidnapper’s demands. If they stick to their guns, they often achieve a release for a small fraction of the first ransom demand. When foreigners are abducted in a kidnap-prone area, there is often another actor and that’s the professional ransom negotiator.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 19, 2019 19:18 UTC