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The Origins of Terrorism - Cross-Country Estimates on Socio-Economic Determinants of Terrorism

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Author Info

  • Andreas Freytag

    () (Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Department of Economics, Germany)

  • Jens J. Krüger

    () (Technical University Darmstadt, Department of Law and Economics, Germany)

  • Daniel Meierrieks

    () (University of Paderborn, Department of Economics, Germany)

  • Friedrich Schneider

    () (Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Department of Economics, Austria)

Abstract

To expand our knowledge about an appropriate anti-terror strategy, it is indispensable to assess the underlying causes of terror. We examine social and economic conditions in the country of origin of terrorist attacks, claiming that low opportunity costs of terror, e.g. approximated as slow growth and poor institutions raise the propensity of terror and the willingness in the population to support terror. Using a mixed effects Poisson regression model, we are able to show that unfortunate socio-economic conditions in a country are suitable to reduce the opportunity cost for potential terrorists and increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks originating from a specific country. Interestingly, this effect is relevant after a certain level of development has been reached. We therefore distinguish between the OECD, Europe and Islamic countries.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Planck-Institute of Economics in its series Jena Economic Research Papers with number 2009-009.

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Date of creation: 01 Feb 2009
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Handle: RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2009-009

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Keywords: terror attacks; openness; discrete choice analysis; institutions;

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References

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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Sarah Brockhoff & Tim Krieger & Daniel Meierrieks, 2012. "Great Expectations and Hard Times - The (Nontrivial) Impact of Education on Domestic Terrorism," CESifo Working Paper Series 3817, CESifo Group Munich.
  2. Sarah Brockhoff & Tim Krieger & Daniel Meierrieks, 2012. "Looking Back on Anger: Explaining the Social Origins of Left-Wing and Nationalist-Separatist Terrorism in Western Europe, 1970-2007," Working Papers 49, University of Paderborn, CIE Center for International Economics.
  3. Kis-Katos, Krisztina & Liebert, Helge & Schulze, Günther G., 2012. "On the Heterogeneity of Terror," IZA Discussion Papers 6596, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  4. Schneider, Friedrich, 2010. "The (Hidden) Financial Flows of Terrorist and Organized Crime Organizations: A Literature Review and Some Preliminary Empirical Results," IZA Discussion Papers 4860, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  5. Caruso, Raul & Schneider, Friedrich, 2009. "Al Qaeda and Jihadist Terrorism in the Light of Contest Theory, Empirical Evidence for the period 2004-2008," MPRA Paper 15856, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  6. Muhammad, Shahbaz & Muhammad, Nasir Malik & Muhammad, Shahbaz Shabbir, 2011. "Does economic growth cause terrorism in Pakistan?," MPRA Paper 35101, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 30 Nov 2011.
  7. Michael Brzoska & Raphael Bossong & Eric van Um, 2011. "Security Economics in the European Context: Implications of the EUSECON Project," Economics of Security Working Paper Series 58, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
  8. Friedrich Schneider & Raul Caruso, 2011. "The (Hidden) Financial Flows of Terrorist and Transnational Crime Organizations: A Literature Review and Some Preliminary Empirical Results," Economics of Security Working Paper Series 52, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
  9. Caruso, Raul, 2008. "Al Qaeda as a Tournament: Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 11693, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  10. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Shabbir, Shahbaz Muhammad, 2011. "Is hike in inflation responsible for rise in terrorism in Pakistan?," MPRA Paper 31236, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 29 May 2011.

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