What does economic research tell us about terrorism?

Alan Krueger reports on his research and in the process gives a nice nod to fellow GMU economist Larry Iannaccone for his work on the market for martyrs.  Bottom line: terrorist are not the poor with low opportunity costs, but those who hold extreme political views and believe so strongly in their cause that they are willing to die for it.

Mises's Nation, State and Economy and Socialism would be a good place to start for Austrians wanting to jump into this line of research with its discussion of the ideology that fueled the fire in men's mind at the turn of the 20th century.  And, of course, Chris Coyne's After War is essential reading for anyone wanting to address the topic of post 9/11 liberalism and international affairs.

Comments

[Rafe Champion]

Krueger's research is fascinating but it is strange that it should have been required to correct the views of so many people. The most visible and well known terrorist movements of modern times, from the Russian bomb throwers through the Stern Gang, the IRA leadership, Black September, the Red Brigades, Che, and the student revolutionaries of '68 were more likely to be upper class and intellectuals than poor and illiterate.

[John V]

I thought the contributors might find this interesting:

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/11/putting-a-price.html

Personally, with my limited knowledge, I was immediately struck by how shaky this whole idea of measurement is because I don't see how you place a value on something ordinal.

Perhaps I'm being too dogmatic and not appreciating some larger view that makes this plausible.

[Josh]

Professor Boettke, what are your thoughts on Hernando De Soto's work in this area?

[Peter G. Klein]

Other useful references include Robert Pape's book and a recent paper by Efraim Benmelech and Claude Berrebi. I have some comments at

http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2007/05/30/average-versus-marginal-blowback-edition/

and

http://organizationsandmarkets.com/2007/06/20/more-on-terrorism-and-incentives/