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The empirical relationship between commitment enhancement devices and terrorism

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  • Kendrick Morales
  • Prosper Raynold
  • Jing Li

Abstract

An extant theoretical literature attributes the high lethality of violent extremist religious sects (VERSs) to their comparative advantage in assembling coalitions of highly committed operatives and identifies sacrifice and stigma (S&S) and social service provision (SSP) as the primary commitment enhancement devices VERSs employ. However, lack of direct measures of the VERSs’ deployment of these devices has impeded efforts to test the hypothesized effects of S&S and SSP on terrorism. This article exploits the relationship between exogenous variation in the marginal productivities of S&S and SSP as inputs in the production of commitment and variation in VERSs’ employment of these inputs to identify proxies for S&S and SSP. Using data from 158 countries, our cross-sectional estimates of the effects of S&S and SSP on the impact of terrorism are significant and larger than the effects of geographic and political variables that are consistently reported to be both significant and substantial.

Suggested Citation

  • Kendrick Morales & Prosper Raynold & Jing Li, 2018. "The empirical relationship between commitment enhancement devices and terrorism," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(50), pages 5366-5380, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:50:y:2018:i:50:p:5366-5380
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2018.1486991
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