Fear of the Dark: How Terrorist Events Affect Trust in the Long Run

Elisa Borghi, Michela Braga and Francesco Scervini

Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2026, vol. 74, issue 2, 379 - 414

Abstract: This paper examines the long-term effects of terrorism on generalized trust at the global level. Using data from the Global Terrorism Database and the World Values Survey, we analyze a sample of approximately 210,000 individuals born between 1954 and 1993 and surveyed in 107 different countries from 1990 to 2020. We base our research on the well-grounded psychological theories on the formation of human beliefs, attitudes, or values, and we find robust evidence that exposure to terrorist events in the two essential stages of human development—adolescence and early adulthood—reduces trust in other people. The formed values are persistent throughout life. These results are robust to several alternative specifications.

Date: 2026
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