The Origins of Terrorism: Cross-Country Estimates on Socio-economic Determinants of Terrorism

Andreas Freytag (), Jens Krüger () and Daniel Meierrieks

No 27, Economics of Security Working Paper Series from DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research

Abstract: As a prerequisite of 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 by slow growth and poor institutions raise the likelihood of terror and the willingness in the population to support terror. Using a negative binomial regression model, we are able to show that unfortunate socio-economic conditions in a country are likely to reduce the opportunity costs of potential terrorists and increase the number of terrorist attacks originating from a specific country. Interestingly, this effect is particularly relevant after a certain level of development has been reached. We therefore distinguish between several broad country groups, namely the OECD, Europe and Islamic countries.

Keywords: terror attacks; openness; discrete choice analysis; institutions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 F15 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 p.
Date: 2010
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The origins of terrorism: Cross-country estimates of socio-economic determinants of terrorism (2011)
Working Paper: The Origins of Terrorism: Cross-Country Estimates on Socio-Economic Determinants of Terrorism (2011)
Working Paper: The Origins of Terrorism - Cross-Country Estimates on Socio-Economic Determinants of Terrorism (2009)
Working Paper: The Origins of Terrorism - Cross-Country Estimates on Socio-Economic Determinants of Terrorism (2009)
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