Terrorism and Economics

[asianeconomist]

I was just reading the sad news of the NY shooting, and was wondering that whether economics has yet developed any analytical models of 'terrorism'?

 

It would probably be interesting to see the incentive structure that drives terrorists to commit acts and even possibly develop policy recommendations for ameliorating the situation. :hmm:

[buckykatt]

Of course. Here's a recent book I was just reading for a class yesterday: Brauer, J. and H. Van Tuyll. Castles, Battles and Bombs. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2009

 

Here's a bibliography I have in progress that has some relevant papers (some of them tangentially so). I some others around here somewhere that I haven't entered yet, but not sure which pile they're in.. ;)

 

Cowen, Tyler. “A Road Map to Middle Eastern Peace?: A Public Choice Perspective.” Public Choice 118, no. 1/2 (January 2004): 1-10.

---. “Response to Steven Plaut.” Public Choice 118, no. 1/2 (January 2004): 25-27.

Elderd, Bret D., Vanja M. Dukic, and Greg Dwyer. “Uncertainty in Predictions of Disease Spread and Public Health Responses to Bioterrorism and Emerging Diseases.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103, no. 42 (October 17, 2006): 15693-15697.

Evron, Gadi. “Battling Botnets and Online Mobs: Estonia’s Defense Efforts during the Internet War.” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, no. Winter/Spring 2008 (2008): 121-126.

Gentzkow, Matthew A, and Jesse M Shapiro. “Media, Education and Anti-Americanism in the Muslim World.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 18, no. 3 (Summer 2004): 117-133.

Krueger, Alan B, and Jitka Maleckova. “Education, Poverty and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection?.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 17, no. 4 (Autumn 2003): 119-144.

Lee, Dwight R. “Free Riding and Paid Riding in the Fight Against Terrorism.” The American Economic Review 78, no. 2 (May 1988): 22-26.

de Mesquita, Ethan Bueno. “The Quality of Terror.” American Journal of Political Science 49, no. 3 (July 2005): 515-530.

Mousseau, Michael. “Market Civilization and Its Clash with Terror.” International Security 27, no. 3 (Winter, -2003 2002): 5-29.

Plaut, Steven. “Misplaced Applications of Economic Theory to the Middle East.” Public Choice 118, no. 1/2 (January 2004): 11-24.

---. “The Final Word.” Public Choice 118, no. 1/2 (January 2004): 29-30.

Sandler, Todd. “Collective versus Unilateral Responses to Terrorism.” Public Choice 124, no. 1/2 (July 2005): 75-93.

Sandler, Todd, John T. Tschirhart, and Jon Cauley. “A Theoretical Analysis of Transnational Terrorism.” The American Political Science Review 77, no. 1 (March 1983): 36-54.

Schelling, Thomas C. “Thinking about Nuclear Terrorism.” International Security 6, no. 4 (Spring 1982): 61-77.

Shughart, William F., II. “September 11, 2001.” Public Choice 111, no. 1/2 (March 2002): 1-8.

Simpson, Ruth. “Neither Clear nor Present: The Social Construction of Safety and Danger.” Sociological Forum 11, no. 3, Special Issue: Lumping and Splitting (September 1996): 549-562.

[asianeconomist]

Of course. Here's a recent book I was just reading for a class yesterday: Brauer, J. and H. Van Tuyll. Castles, Battles and Bombs. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2009

 

Here's a bibliography I have in progress that has some relevant papers (some of them tangentially so). I some others around here somewhere that I haven't entered yet, but not sure which pile they're in.. ;)

 

Cowen, Tyler. “A Road Map to Middle Eastern Peace?: A Public Choice Perspective.” Public Choice 118, no. 1/2 (January 2004): 1-10.

---. “Response to Steven Plaut.” Public Choice 118, no. 1/2 (January 2004): 25-27.

Elderd, Bret D., Vanja M. Dukic, and Greg Dwyer. “Uncertainty in Predictions of Disease Spread and Public Health Responses to Bioterrorism and Emerging Diseases.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103, no. 42 (October 17, 2006): 15693-15697.

Evron, Gadi. “Battling Botnets and Online Mobs: Estonia’s Defense Efforts during the Internet War.” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, no. Winter/Spring 2008 (2008): 121-126.

Gentzkow, Matthew A, and Jesse M Shapiro. “Media, Education and Anti-Americanism in the Muslim World.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 18, no. 3 (Summer 2004): 117-133.

Krueger, Alan B, and Jitka Maleckova. “Education, Poverty and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection?.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives 17, no. 4 (Autumn 2003): 119-144.

Lee, Dwight R. “Free Riding and Paid Riding in the Fight Against Terrorism.” The American Economic Review 78, no. 2 (May 1988): 22-26.

de Mesquita, Ethan Bueno. “The Quality of Terror.” American Journal of Political Science 49, no. 3 (July 2005): 515-530.

Mousseau, Michael. “Market Civilization and Its Clash with Terror.” International Security 27, no. 3 (Winter, -2003 2002): 5-29.

Plaut, Steven. “Misplaced Applications of Economic Theory to the Middle East.” Public Choice 118, no. 1/2 (January 2004): 11-24.

---. “The Final Word.” Public Choice 118, no. 1/2 (January 2004): 29-30.

Sandler, Todd. “Collective versus Unilateral Responses to Terrorism.” Public Choice 124, no. 1/2 (July 2005): 75-93.

Sandler, Todd, John T. Tschirhart, and Jon Cauley. “A Theoretical Analysis of Transnational Terrorism.” The American Political Science Review 77, no. 1 (March 1983): 36-54.

Schelling, Thomas C. “Thinking about Nuclear Terrorism.” International Security 6, no. 4 (Spring 1982): 61-77.

Shughart, William F., II. “September 11, 2001.” Public Choice 111, no. 1/2 (March 2002): 1-8.

Simpson, Ruth. “Neither Clear nor Present: The Social Construction of Safety and Danger.” Sociological Forum 11, no. 3, Special Issue: Lumping and Splitting (September 1996): 549-562.

 

Thanks buddy ! I'll definitely be going through a few of them, if not all.

[Golden Rule]

Former CEA chair and NBER President Martin Feldstein is actually very much into "The Economics of National Security."

 

Here is the NBER Summer Institute program from last year, and also see 2007.

[Bees]

Gary Becker had a couple of papers on the topic too

[KGkhan23]

Here is an NBER workshop with some papers you might like.

[changuey]

You should definitely have a look at Eli Berman (UCSD). He deals exclusively with terrorism in the Middle East I believe.

[bheld]

No jokes yet about rationality?

[treblekicker]

No jokes yet about rationality?

 

Eliminating Terror and Political Institutions « Cheap Talk

 

http://cheeptalk.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/strategy-of-terror-the-management-of-savagery/

[veryshuai]

I heard a recent presentation on this one:

 

Human Capital and the Productivity of Suicide Bombers

Author(s): Efraim Benmelech Claude Berrebi

 

The idea is that people with higher education levels make more deadly suicide bombers...but the dataset is tiny, and there are some serious reverse causality problems (maybe the higher educated people just get assigned to more important i.e. more likely to be deadly missions)

[leguan]

Take a look at Bruce Bueno de Mesquita's work. He's not an economist, but employs nice game-theoretic models. Sophisticated enough, I'd say.

[asianeconomist]

Thanks for the references.

[buckykatt]

Another political science guy with related work:

 

Prof. John Mueller

[corolla09]

Walter Enders and Todd Sandler, The Political Economy of Terrorism

 

Pretty simple, some game theory much more of a political economy approach as indicated by the title. Good read though.