IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/pepspp/v19y2013i3p359-368n11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Curvilinear Effects of Economic Development on Domestic Terrorism

Author

Listed:
  • Boehmer Charles

    (Department of Political Science, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Drive, El Paso, TX 79968, USA)

  • Daube Mark

    (University of Texas School of Law, 727 E Dean Keeton St, Austin, TX 78724, USA)

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between economic development and domestic terrorism. We argue states at intermediate levels of development go through socioeconomic changes that result when traditional economies are replaced by modern economic relations, which may lead to grievances and social mobilizations conducive to terrorism. The effects of economic development should have a curvilinear effect on domestic terrorism. We test our theory using the GTD dataset and find support for our theory. We show that states at intermediate levels of economic development are more prone to domestic terror attacks than the poorest and richest states. Terror events would appear more likely where states fail to provide, or reduce, an economic safety net to mitigate the transformative effects of economic development. Moreover, the results show that states that are highly democratic, and long-enduring, are less prone to domestic terrorism than less democratic states.

Suggested Citation

  • Boehmer Charles & Daube Mark, 2013. "The Curvilinear Effects of Economic Development on Domestic Terrorism," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(3), pages 359-368, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:pepspp:v:19:y:2013:i:3:p:359-368:n:11
    DOI: 10.1515/peps-2013-0043
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/peps-2013-0043
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/peps-2013-0043?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keefer,Philip & Loayza,Norman (ed.), 2008. "Terrorism, Economic Development, and Political Openness," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521887588, September.
    2. Olson, Mancur, 1963. "Rapid Growth as a Destabilizing Force," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 529-552, December.
    3. Pinar Derin-Güre, 2009. "Does Terrorism Have Economic Roots?," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series wp2009-001, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    4. Alberto Abadie, 2006. "Poverty, Political Freedom, and the Roots of Terrorism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 50-56, May.
    5. 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.
    6. Jennifer Kavanagh, 2011. "Selection, Availability, and Opportunity: The Conditional Effect of Poverty on Terrorist Group Participation," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 55(1), pages 106-132, February.
    7. Alan B. Krueger & Jitka Maleckova, 2003. "Education, Poverty and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(4), pages 119-144, Fall.
    8. Walter Enders & Todd Sandler & Khusrav Gaibulloev, 2011. "Domestic Versus Transnational Terrorism: Data, Decomposition, and Dynamics," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 48(3), pages 319-337, May.
    9. Walter Enders & Gary A. Hoover, 2012. "The Nonlinear Relationship between Terrorism and Poverty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(3), pages 267-272, May.
    10. Michael Mousseau, 2011. "Urban poverty and support for Islamist terror: Survey results of Muslims in fourteen countries," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 48(1), pages 35-47, January.
    11. James A Piazza, 2011. "Poverty, Minority Economic Discrimination, and Domestic Terrorism," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 48(3), pages 339-353, May.
    12. Berrebi Claude, 2007. "Evidence about the Link Between Education, Poverty and Terrorism among Palestinians," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 18-53, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Krieger, Tim & Brockhoff, Sarah & Meierrieks, Daniel, 2012. "Great Expectations and Hard Times The (Nontrivial) Impact of Education on Domestic Terrorism," VfS Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century 62083, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Kis-Katos, Krisztina & Liebert, Helge & Schulze, Günther G., 2014. "On the heterogeneity of terror," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 116-136.
    3. James A. Piazza, 2013. "The Cost of Living and Terror: Does Consumer Price Volatility Fuel Terrorism?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 79(4), pages 812-831, April.
    4. Michael Jetter & David Stadelmann, 2019. "Terror per Capita," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(1), pages 286-304, July.
    5. 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.
    6. Krieger, Tim & Meierrieks, Daniel, 2019. "Income inequality, redistribution and domestic terrorism," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 116, pages 125-136.
    7. L. Elbakidze & Y. H. Jin, 2015. "Are Economic Development and Education Improvement Associated with Participation in Transnational Terrorism?," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(8), pages 1520-1535, August.
    8. Ismail, Aisha & Amjad, Shehla, 2014. "Determinants of terrorism in Pakistan: An empirical investigation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 320-331.
    9. Friedrich Schneider & Tilman Brück & Daniel Meierrieks, 2015. "The Economics Of Counterterrorism: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 131-157, February.
    10. Syed Muhammad All-E-Raza Rizvi & Marie-Ange Véganzonès-Varoudakis, 2019. "Economic, social, and institutional determinants of domestic conflict in fragile States," Working Papers hal-02340977, HAL.
    11. Michael Jetter & Rafat Mahmood & David Stadelmann, 2024. "Income and Terrorism: Insights From Subnational Data," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 68(2-3), pages 509-533, March.
    12. Asongu, Simplice A. & Le Roux, Sara & Singh, Pritam, 2021. "Fighting terrorism in Africa: Complementarity between inclusive development, military expenditure and political stability," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 897-922.
    13. Rafat Mahmood & Michael Jetter, 2020. "Communications Technology and Terrorism," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 64(1), pages 127-166, January.
    14. Friedrich Schneider & Tilman Brück & Daniel Meierrieks, 2010. "The Economics of Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism: A Survey (Part II)," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1050, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Sarah Brockhoff & Tim Krieger & Daniel Meierrieks, 2012. "Looking Back on Anger: Explaining the Social Origins of Left-Wing and Nationalist-Separatist Terrorism in Western Europe, 1970-2007," CESifo Working Paper Series 3789, CESifo.
    16. Martin Gassebner & Simon Luechinger, 2011. "Lock, stock, and barrel: a comprehensive assessment of the determinants of terror," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 235-261, December.
    17. Asongu, Simplice & Tchamyou, Vanessa & Asongu, Ndemaze & Tchamyou, Nina, 2019. "Fighting terrorism in Africa when existing terrorism levels matter," MPRA Paper 102026, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. repec:bpj:pepspp:v:18:y:2012:i:3:p:2:n:8 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Meierrieks Daniel, 2012. "Rooted in Urban Poverty? Failed Modernization and Terrorism," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(3), pages 1-2, December.
    20. Sambuddha Ghatak & Aaron Gold, 2017. "Development, discrimination, and domestic terrorism: Looking beyond a linear relationship," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 34(6), pages 618-639, November.
    21. Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2013. "Linkages between inflation, economic growth and terrorism in Pakistan," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 496-506.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:pepspp:v:19:y:2013:i:3:p:359-368:n:11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.