Education, Poverty and Terrorism

**Shek** · 03-01-2007, 21:36 PM

Here are two econometric papers looking at the links between education, poverty and terrorism. While they get quite technical in parts, I think that the information, statistics, and conclusions are quite impressive and aren't that difficult to grasp no matter what your level of econometrics training (to include none).

Quote:

Education, Poverty and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection?
Alan B. Krueger and Jitka Malecˇkova
Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 17, Number 4—Fall 2003—Pages 119–144
http://www.krueger.princeton.edu/terrorism2.pdf

In the aftermath of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, several prominent observers—ranging from former Vice President Al Gore (2002) to President George W. Bush (2002a), as well as academics, including Joseph Nye, Dean of the Kennedy School of Government, Laura Tyson (2001), Dean of the London Business School, and Richard Sokolsky and Joseph McMillan (2002) of the National Defense University—have called for increased aid and educational assistance to end terrorism. Perhaps surprisingly, our review of the evidence provides little reason for optimism that a reduction in poverty or an increase in educational attainment would meaningfully reduce international terrorism. Any connection between poverty, education and terrorism is indirect, complicated and probably quite weak. Instead of viewing terrorism as a direct response to low market opportunities or ignorance, we suggest it is more accurately viewed as a response to political conditions and long-standing feelings of indignity and frustration that have little to do with economics.

Alan B. Krueger is Bendheim Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, and Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jitka Malecˇkova´ is Associate Professor, Institute for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.

Quote:

Attack Assignments in Terror Organizations and The Productivity of Suicide Bombers
Efraim Benmelech and Claude Berrebi
NBER Working Paper No. 12910
February 2007
Attack Assignments in Terror Organizations and The Productivity of Suicide Bombers

This paper studies the relation between human capital of suicide bombers and outcomes of their suicide attacks. We argue that human capital is an important factor in the production of terrorism, and that if terrorists behave rationally we should observe that more able suicide bombers are assigned to more important targets. We use a unique data set detailing the biographies of Palestinian suicide bombers, the targets they attack, and the number of people that they kill and injure to validate the theoretical predictions and estimate the returns to human capital in suicide bombing. Our empirical analysis suggests that older and more educated suicide bombers are being assigned by their terror organization to more important targets. We find that more educated and older suicide bombers are less likely to fail in their
mission, and are more likely to cause increased casualties when they attack.

**astralis** · 03-01-2007, 22:46 PM

i once had a student whom did a simpler version of that paper. he compared freedom house indicators on level of political freedom to the level of terrorist attacks by the national counter terrorism center, and then repeated that for GDP per capita levels to level of terrorist attacks.

he came to a similar conclusion, based upon correlation (because it was a relatively short paper, not causation).

03-01-2007, 22:46 PM	#2 (permalink)
astralis *Foreign Service* Moderator Lei Feng Protege Join Date: 08-23-05 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 2,944 Country:	i once had a student whom did a simpler version of that paper. he compared freedom house indicators on level of political freedom to the level of terrorist attacks by the national counter terrorism center, and then repeated that for GDP per capita levels to level of terrorist attacks. he came to a similar conclusion, based upon correlation (because it was a relatively short paper, not causation). __________________ Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

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