Great Expectations and Hard Times The (Nontrivial) Impact of Education on Domestic Terrorism

Tim Krieger, Sarah Brockhoff and Daniel Meierrieks

VfS Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century from Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association

Abstract: This contribution investigates the role of education in domestic terrorism for 133 countries between 1984 and 2007. The findings point at a nontrivial effect of education on terrorism. Lower education (primary education) tends to promote terrorism in a cluster of countries where the socioeconomic, political and demographic conditions are unfavorable, while higher education (university education) reduces terrorism in a cluster of countries where conditions are more favorable. This suggests that country-specific circumstances mediate the effect of education on the (opportunity) costs and benefits of terrorism. For instance, the prevalence of poor structural conditions in combination with advances in education may explain past and present waves of terrorism and political instability in the Middle East. The results of this study imply that promoting education needs to be accompanied by sound structural change so that it can positively interact with (individual and social) development, thereby reducing terrorism.

JEL-codes: D74 I21 I29 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Great Expectations and Hard Times - The (Nontrivial) Impact of Education on Domestic Terrorism (2012)
Working Paper: Great Expectations and Hard Times — The (Nontrivial) Impact of Education on Domestic Terrorism (2012)
Working Paper: Great Expectations and Hard Times - The (Nontrivial) Impact of Education on Domestic Terrorism (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:vfsc12:62083

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