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Labor Market Conditions, Political Events, and Palestinian Suicide Bombings

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  • Sayre Edward A

    (University of Southern Mississippi)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between Palestinian suicide bombings and economic and political conditions. Labor market conditions can affect the frequency of attacks because when the economy worsens, the opportunity cost of being a terrorist decreases. An alternative explanation is that suicide bombings are responses to changes in the political environment. This paper examines these alternative explanations by estimating count data regression models of the occurrence of Palestinian terrorist attacks from 1993 to 2004. Contrary to the previous literature, this paper finds that economic conditions are correlated with suicide terrorism. Specifically, deteriorating local labor market conditions during the al-Aqsa Intifada account for nearly half of the increase in suicide bombings during that time.

Suggested Citation

  • Sayre Edward A, 2009. "Labor Market Conditions, Political Events, and Palestinian Suicide Bombings," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(1), pages 1-26, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:pepspp:v:15:y:2009:i:1:n:1
    DOI: 10.2202/1554-8597.1134
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Who becomes a suicide bomber?
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2008-09-11 13:08:00

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    Cited by:

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    2. Caruso, Raul & Schneider, Friedrich, 2011. "The socio-economic determinants of terrorism and political violence in Western Europe (1994–2007)," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(S1), pages 37-49.
    3. Forrester, Andrew C. & Powell, Benjamin & Nowrasteh, Alex & Landgrave, Michelangelo, 2019. "Do immigrants import terrorism?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 529-543.
    4. Miaari, Sami & Zussman, Asaf & Zussman, Noam, 2014. "Employment restrictions and political violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 24-44.
    5. Hinkkainen Kaisa, 2013. "Homegrown Terrorism: The Known Unknown," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 157-182, August.
    6. Caruso, Raul & Schneider, Friedrich, 2013. "Brutality of Jihadist terrorism. A contest theory perspective and empirical evidence in the period 2002–2010," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 685-696.
    7. Massimiliano Cal� & Sami H. Miaari, 2014. "Trade, employment and conflict: Evidence from the Second Intifada," HiCN Working Papers 186, Households in Conflict Network.
    8. Caruso Raul & Gavrilova Evelina, 2012. "Youth Unemployment, Terrorism and Political Violence, Evidence from the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 1-37, August.
    9. Richard Estes & M. Sirgy, 2014. "Radical Islamic Militancy and Acts of Terrorism: A Quality-of-Life Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 615-652, June.
    10. De Palma André & Perali Federico & Picard Nathalie & Ricciuti Roberto & Scorbureanu Alexandrina, 2013. "Social Crisis Prevention: A Political Alert Index for the Israel-Palestine Conflict," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 103-122, August.
    11. Ismail, Aisha & Amjad, Shehla, 2014. "Determinants of terrorism in Pakistan: An empirical investigation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 320-331.
    12. Irshad Hira & Taib Hasniza Mohd & Hussain Haroon & Hussain Rana Yassir, 2023. "Conventional and Islamic Equity Market Reaction Towards Terrorism: Evidence Based on Target Types, Location and Islamic Calendar Months," Studia Universitatis „Vasile Goldis” Arad – Economics Series, Sciendo, vol. 33(4), pages 70-116, December.
    13. Apolte, Thomas, 2017. "I hope I die before I get old: The supply side of the market for suicide bombers," CIW Discussion Papers 1/2017, University of Münster, Center for Interdisciplinary Economics (CIW).
    14. Danko Tarabar & Joshua C. Hall, 2015. "Explaining the Worldwide Decline in Military Conscription: 1970-2010," Working Papers 15-30, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    15. Moamen Gouda & Marcus Marktanner, 2017. "Muslim Youth Unemployment and Expat Jihadism- Bored to Death?," Working Papers 1113, Economic Research Forum, revised 06 2003.
    16. Danko Tarabar & Joshua C. Hall, 2016. "Explaining the worldwide decline in the length of mandatory military service, 1970–2010," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 55-74, July.
    17. Sameh Hallaq, 2020. "The Palestinian Labor Market over the Last Three Decades," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_976, Levy Economics Institute.

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