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The origins of terrorism: Cross-country estimates of socio-economic determinants of terrorism

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  • Freytag, Andreas
  • Krüger, Jens J.
  • Meierrieks, Daniel
  • Schneider, Friedrich

Abstract

Prior research has concluded that socio-economic development does not significantly affect terrorism. We take an alternative view. First, we note that a country's socio-economic circumstances affect terrorists' behavior through terrorism's opportunity costs. We argue that this reasoning also holds for the case of supreme value terrorism. Then, we run a series of negative binomial regressions for 110 countries between 1971 and 2007 to test the hypothesis that poor socio-economic development is conducive to terrorism. We find that socio-economic variables indeed matter to terrorism, contrary to other results. Our findings imply that countries can benefit from economic development and growth in terms of a reduction in terrorism.

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Article provided by Elsevier in its journal European Journal of Political Economy.

Volume (Year): 27 (2011)
Issue (Month): S1 ()
Pages: S5-S16

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Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:27:y:2011:i:s1:p:s5-s16
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505544

Keywords: Terrorism; Development; Opportunity costs of violence; Negative binomial regression;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities
  • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions

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