The Impact of Conflict on a Country's Economy: An Obligatory Response to Beatriz Plaza

This paper is a response to Beatriz Plaza's reply to an article we wrote for European Planning Studies, 8(4) (2000). We argued that a society in which a wide range of agents and institutions exhibits a well-developed set of values (confidence, cooperation, solidarity, etc.) is likely to be more socio-economically efficient. We will demonstrate that our critic's reply makes absolutely no reference whatsoever to our article's central theses. Moreover, the reply completely ignores the temporal context of our article. We disagree with the manner in which our critic has presented the data to 'demonstrate' the negative impact of terrorism, something that is very obvious. The real effect of violence and terrorism on a society transcends what is reflected in data that are frequently incomplete and lacking in context. Empirical social analyses increasingly attempt to use more personalized, qualitative surveys, instead of econometric models that are not capable of explaining a richer social reality. Analysis of the trends in and evolution of tourism could also help explain phenomena that extend beyond the strict scope of the Basque economy. Knowledge of the tourist sector and the capacity for sound analysis are prerequisites for anyone claiming to do a serious study or critique on the topic. Given the points cited above, we believe that our critic's reply to our article is incomplete, lacking in context, useless, unnecessary, incoherent, and demagogic. We thus still believe each and every one of the arguments in our article to be valid, and do not see how our critic has in any way called them into question. We believe that our critic is completely off the mark in criticizing us so harshly and so unfoundedly.