IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Login to save this paper or follow this series

What causes terrorism?

Author Info

  • Tim Krieger

    ()

    (University of Paderborn)

  • Daniel Meierrieks

    (University of Paderborn)

Abstract

Popular beliefs link terrorism to economic, political and social under- development. In this contribution, we comprehensively review the related, most relevant cross-country analyses to ascertain the true determinants of terrorism. The related theoretical underpinnings are presented and com- mon analytical and methodological objections are discussed. In general, we nd that terrorism is closely linked to political instability, sharp divides within the populace, country size and further demographic, institutional and international factors. Sound counter-terrorism policies should work on these prominent root causes of terrorism. Evidence is only marginal that economic performance, structural economic conditions, democrati- zation, education or religious aliation signi cantly interact with terror- ism. Thus, we are skeptical towards popular policy advice that focuses on poverty alleviation, a promotion of economic development, democratiza- tion, education or the like.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://groups.uni-paderborn.de/wp-wiwi/RePEc/pdf/ciepap/WP12.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Paper provided by University of Paderborn, CIE Center for International Economics in its series Working Papers CIE with number 12.

as
in new window

Length: 37 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:pdn:ciepap:12
Contact details of provider: Postal: 05251/05251/60-2108
Phone: 05251/05251/60-2108
Fax: 05251/60-3205
Web page: http://wiwi.uni-paderborn.de/center/cie/Email:


More information through EDIRC

Keywords: Determinants of Terrorism; Political Violence; Counter-Terrorism Policies;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
  • H56 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - National Security and War
  • K40 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - General
  • N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

as in new window
  1. Abadie, Alberto, 2004. "Poverty, Political Freedom, and the Roots of Terrorism," Working Paper Series rwp04-043, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
  2. Jean-Paul Azam & Véronique Thelen, 2008. "The roles of foreign aid and education in the war on terror," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 375-397, June.
  3. Gassebner, Martin & Jong-A-Pin, Richard & Mierau, Jochen O., 2008. "Terrorism and electoral accountability: One strike, you're out!," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 126-129, July.
  4. Fernanda Llussa & Jose Tavares, 2007. "The economics of terrorism: A synopsis," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, Economists for Peace and Security, vol. 2(1), pages 62-70, January.
  5. Axel Dreher & Justina A. V. Fischer, 2009. "Government decentralization as a disincentive for transnational terror? An empirical analysis," Diskussionspapiere aus dem Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Hohenheim 313/2009, Department of Economics, University of Hohenheim, Germany.
  6. Bruno S. Frey & Simon Luechinger & Alois Stutzer, 2004. "Calculating Tragedy: Assessing the Costs of Terrorism," CESifo Working Paper Series 1341, CESifo Group Munich.
  7. Fernanda Llussa & Jose Tavares, 2007. "The economics of terrorism: A synopsis," Economics of Peace and Security Journal, Economists for Peace and Security, vol. 2(1), pages 62-70, January.
  8. Jean-Paul Azam & Alexandra Delacroix, 2006. "Aid and the Delegated Fight Against Terrorism," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 330-344, 05.
  9. Peter Bernholz, 2006. "International political system, supreme values and terrorism," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 221-231, July.
  10. Nicole Crain & W. Crain, 2006. "Terrorized economies," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 317-349, July.
  11. Tim Krieger & Daniel Meierrieks, 2010. "Terrorism in the Worlds of Welfare Capitalism," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 54(6), pages 902-939, December.
  12. Sandler, Todd & Enders, Walter, 2004. "An economic perspective on transnational terrorism," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 301-316, June.
  13. Atin Basuchoudhary & William Shughart, 2010. "On Ethnic Conflict And The Origins Of Transnational Terrorism," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 65-87.
  14. Nitsch, Volker & Schumacher, Dieter, 2004. "Terrorism and international trade: an empirical investigation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 423-433, June.
  15. Blomberg, S. Brock & Hess, Gregory D. & Weerapana, Akila, 2004. "Economic conditions and terrorism," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 463-478, June.
  16. Enders, Walter & Sandler, Todd, 1996. "Terrorism and Foreign Direct Investment in Spain and Greece," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 331-52.
  17. Bryan Caplan, 2006. "Terrorism: The relevance of the rational choice model," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 91-107, July.
  18. Lee, Dwight R, 1988. "Free Riding and Paid Riding in the Fight against Terrorism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 22-26, May.
  19. Sandler, Todd & Lapan, Harvey E., 1988. "The Calculus of Dissent: An Analysis of Terrorists' Choice of Targets," Staff General Research Papers 10818, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
  20. Christos Kallandranis & Konstantinos Drakos, 2012. "Security Economics: A Guide for Data Availability and Needs," EUSECON Policy Briefing 16, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
  21. William Shughart, 2006. "An analytical history of terrorism, 1945–2000," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 7-39, July.
  22. Todd Sandler, 2003. "Collective Action and Transnational Terrorism," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(6), pages 779-802, 06.
  23. S. Brock Blomberg & Gregory D. Hess & Akila Weerapana, 2002. "Terrorism From Within: An Economic Model of Terrorism," Claremont Colleges Working Papers 2002-14, Claremont Colleges.
  24. Todd Sandler, 2005. "Collective versus unilateral responses to terrorism," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 75-93, July.
  25. Addison, Tony & Murshed, S. Mansoob, 2002. "Transnational Terrorism as a Spillover of Domestic Disputes in Other Countries," Working Paper Series UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
  26. Richard Kirk, 1983. "Political terrorism and the size of government: A positive institutional analysis of violent political activity," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 41-52, January.
  27. Mirza, Daniel & Verdier, Thierry, 2008. "International trade, security and transnational terrorism: Theory and a survey of empirics," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 179-194, June.
  28. Dreher, Axel & Gassebner, Martin, 2008. "Does political proximity to the U.S. cause terror?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 27-29, April.
  29. Tavares, Jose, 2004. "The open society assesses its enemies: shocks, disasters and terrorist attacks," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 1039-1070, July.
  30. Frey, Bruno S. & Luechinger, Simon, 2004. "Decentralization as a disincentive for terror," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 509-515, June.
  31. Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard & Mogens Justesen & Robert Klemmensen, 2006. "The political economy of freedom, democracy and transnational terrorism," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 128(1), pages 289-315, July.
  32. Salvatore, Dominick, 2007. "Growth, international inequalities, and poverty in a globalizing world," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 635-641.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.

as in new window


Cited by:
This item has more than 25 citations. To prevent cluttering this page, these citations are listed on a separate page.

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Access and download statistics

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pdn:ciepap:12. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (WP-WiWi-Info)

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.